Abstract :
[en] The UHC Partnership (UHC-P) Annual Report 2019 looks back at a year when the Partnership is entering into a new phase of expansion, working in 115 countries across six WHO regions
and with the support of seven donors, including the expansion of European Union funding until 2022. The UHC-P channels donors’ investments via WHO to ensure continuity between global commitments and country implementation for health systems strengthening, ensuring that nobody gets left behind.
By combining policy dialogue and technical assistance, the UHC-P has provided tailored and bottom-up support for each country’s roadmap towards UHC. The year 2019 was also an important one for advancing UHC, which benefited from high-level political support from
the United Nations General Assembly, which endorsed the Political Declaration following its High-level Meeting on UHC. WHO mirrored this additional focus on UHC with the establishment of the UHC Steering Committee to provide global guidance and alignment across all levels of the
Organization, further increasing the visibility of the UHC-P.
This Annual Report 2019 outlines country-level and regional achievements in accordance with WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019–2023 (GPW13). In terms of results,
the focus of over two thirds of countries involved the first billion – achieving UHC, including its components such as health services, leadership and governance, and essential medicines. The second and third billion – addressing health emergencies and promoting healthier populations,
respectively – remained a smaller focus in 2019; however, this should be increasing in 2020. As per GPW13’s results framework, this report also includes elements related to a more effective and efficient WHO providing support at country level, and highlighting how the UHC-P is contributing
to this overall strategic shift. This Annual Report demonstrates key country-level and regional examples (see Figs. 1 and 2), as well as a series of more detailed analyses on primary health care, health financing and NCDs. It should be noted, however, that the list of examples and outcomes is not exhaustive and is meant to highlight key achievements. Moreover, underpinning the way in which the UHC-P operates (section 5), five key factors of success for the Partnership have been identified, embodying the strategic shifts occurring at WHO to ensure continuity between global commitments and country implementation, and providing leadership at the country level towards unremitting progress and significant results. These include:
■ a bottom-up approach based on country needs and capacity;
■ flexibility in terms of funding, as well as adapting to specific contexts and changing priorities;
■ a strong and high-level internal governance of the UHC Partnership supported by world leaders’ political commitments and a robust multi-donor coordination committee (MDCC) to improve transparency and mutual accountabilities;
■ systematic monitoring of implementation and results, which ensures clear accountabilities; and
■ continuity and sustainability of the efforts at national level, thanks to catalytic resources.
