Honorable Chair, distinguished delegates,

Financing for health is at a crossroads.

1 billion people experience financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending.
At the same time, official development assistance is rapidly contracting.

In this context, a long-term vision of domestically financed health systems, in line with the Lusaka Agenda, is more important than ever.

The UN Foundation commends Nigeria and cosponsoring Member States for their leadership on the resolution “Strengthening Health Financing Globally.”

We endorse the timely calls to action in the resolution, including:

safeguarding WHO’s role as an enabler of country-led pathways to achieve UHC through strengthened primary healthcare;

and pursuing reforms that address fragmentation and promote coherent and aligned health financing systems.

We urge Member States to remain focused on this critical issue in a range of policy-making settings – including outside the health sector – to make the most of this difficult but unique opportunity to deliver efficiency gains and build self-reliance in healthcare systems.

Thank you.