UHC Day
2023
Toolkit forCampaigners

CONTENTS
Campaign overview
Campaign themeSubthemes
Key background
High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage
Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2023 Global Monitoring Report

All source material including graphics available at UHCDay.org

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CAMPAIGNOVERVIEW

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UHC Day 2023 is
Tuesday, 12 December
Now more than ever, we need
your voice to tell our leaders tokeep their commitments touniversal health coverage.
It’s time for action.

Key Twitter/X handles:@UHC_Day@UHC2030@CSOs4UHC@UN@WHO@WBG_Health@OECD_Social
Main hashtags:#UHCDay#HealthForAll#UniversalHealthCoverage
Website: UHCDay.org
Substack: uhcdayupdates.substack.com

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CAMPAIGN THEME

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The UHC Day
2023 theme isHealth For All:Time For Action

It is time to get progress towards health for all back on track.
The United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage,
held on 21 September 2023, reafﬁrmed that healthy people are thefoundation of healthy societies and economies, and that UHC is central toachieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals.
And yet:• Half of the world’s population does not have access to essential healthservices.
• An estimated 2 billion people face ﬁnancial hardship due toout-of-pocket health expenses, including 344 million people living inextreme poverty.
• Since the launch of the SDGs in 2015 – even before the COVID-19
pandemic – the expansion of health service coverage had stalled andﬁnancial protection had deteriorated.
The pandemic has set countries further back in their journey towards
universal health coverage. It has also showed why UHC is so important.

It’s time for action.
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Social media copy
The right to quality healthservices and ﬁnancial
protection is universal. This#UHCDay, we call on
leaders to take immediate
steps to achieve#HealthForAll by 2030.
The clock is ticking. The
time for action is now.

Half of the world's
population still lacks
access to essential healthservices, and almost 25%
faces ﬁnancial hardship due
to out-of-pocket healthspending. This is a humanrights violation.
This #UHCDay, we urge
leaders to invest in resilientand equitable healthsystems.

Health is a fundamental
human right.
This #UHCDay, we’recalling for immediateglobal action.
Our goal: Accessible andaffordable health services
for everyone, everywhere.
The time to act is now.

Everyone has different
health needs. But everyone,everywhere, needs quality
health services andﬁnancial protection.
This #UHCDay, we areholding leaders to accountfor their commitments
made at the #UHCHLM.
Turn your words into action
and make #HealthForAll areality by 2030.

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SUBTHEMES

10This year’s ﬁve
UHC Day subthemes
focus on speciﬁcactions to get us backon track to achieve
universal healthcoverage by 2030.

Let’s remind leaders that it’s time to:Invest in universal health coverage
Strengthen health systems
Expand primary health care
Work across sectors and communities
Promote innovation to reach everyone

11Investing more and better in UHC beneﬁts all of society, because
UHC reduces poverty and promotes equity and social cohesion.
It’s time for local, national and global leaders to prioritize ﬁnancing
for health services and ﬁnancial protection, so that everyone canaccess quality health services without falling into poverty.
This includes investing in all of the systems that address health andwell-being as well as in a well-trained, well-paid health and care
workforce.

Social media copy
This #UHCDay, we call on leaders toinvest in #UniversalHealthCoverage to:- Lift people out of poverty- Protect against public health crises- Advance the #SDGs- Ensure the fundamental right to healthWe’ve heard the commitments. Now it’stime for action.

To achieve #HealthForAll by 2030,
leaders must invest in strong healthsystems, increase public health ﬁnancing
and lower out-of-pocket costs.
Particularly for the poorest and mostvulnerable.
This #UHCDay, we urge leaders to adopt
national spending targets to make thishappen.

Health and care workers are thebackbone of a well-functioning healthsystem.
This #UHCDay, we urge our leaders to:- Increase investments to retain, expand
and protect health and care workers- Ensure decent working conditions- Address gender pay gaps
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The need for more resilient health systems – especially in the face ofclimate change and increased risk of pandemics – has never been
more urgent.
It’s time to build equitable and resilient health systems with primary
health care as a foundation, and to connect universal health coveragewith health security.
This is the best way to protect communities, particularly vulnerable
populations, to prepare for and respond effectively to health threats,
and to ensure the continuity of essential health services – in crisisand calm.

Social media copy
Stronger health systems based on
primary health care are key to reducing
inequities, removing barriers to healthservices, and preventing, detecting andresponding to health emergencies.
This #UHCDay, we call on leaders tostrengthen health systems to promote#HealthSecurity.

This #UHCDay, we urge leaders to put
primary health care at the center ofpandemic prevention, preparedness,
response and recovery.
This is the best way to ensure continued
access to essential health services
during outbreaks and to identify andaddress health threats early.

Climate change is one of the biggest
threats to human health. It increases therisk of:- Infectious diseases- Natural disasters- Food insecurity
This #UHCDay, we’re calling forstronger health systems that protect
everyone, everywhere.
13Primary health care is the foundation of UHC and people’s ﬁrst line ofdefense against illness and disease. It is also the most inclusive,
cost-effective approach to achieving health for all and protecting
communities from health crises.
It’s time to expand primary health care interventions, including healthpromotion and disease prevention, that respond to people’s needs
throughout their lives, address the determinants of health, andempower individuals, families and communities to take charge of
their own health.

Social media copy
#PrimaryHealthCare is the mosteffective, efﬁcient way to ensure that
health policies and services respond topeople’s needs, in crisis and in calm.
This #UHCDay, we call on governments
to get #UniversalHealthCoverage backon track by investing in primary healthcare.

This #UHCDay, we call on governments
to invest in #HealthForAll with a primary
health care focus.

Primary health care can deliver 90% of
the essential health services peopleneed.

This includes strengthening the healthand care workforce, which is thebackbone of every health system.

This #UHCDay, we’re calling on leaders
to increase budget allocations forprimary health care.

This is the best way to ensure healthservices reach everyone, everywhere.

The time to act is now.

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To achieve health and well-being, governments must look beyond
health services and address the environmental, social andbehavioural factors that affect health.
They must also listen to communities – including people of all ages
and genders – and involve them in decision-making processes.
This is the best way to ensure that health policies and programs
meet people’s needs and leave no one behind.

Social media copy
This #UHCDay, we call on leaders toinstitutionalize social participation andlisten to the voices of local communities,including women, youth and thoseaffected by climate, health andhumanitarian crises.
This is key if we wish to ensure thefundamental right to health.

To achieve #UniversalHealthCoverage,communities must be empowered tomake informed decisions and participate
in decision-making processes affecting
their health.
This #UHCDay, we urge leaders to adopt
national health policy frameworks withinclusive, participatory mechanisms.

#UniversalHealthCoverage requires
collaboration across health priorities andbeyond the health sector.
This #UHCDay, we remind leaders toaddress all of the factors that affecthealth, including where people live andthe way they eat, work and move.

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Innovation across the health system – from health care delivery topolicy-making and funding – is vital to advancing universal healthcoverage and overcoming barriers to access, affordability and quality.
It’s time to promote innovations that improve the effectiveness andefﬁciency of our health systems and that protect the health ofeveryone, everywhere.

Social media copy
Innovation is vital to advancing#UniversalHealthCoverage – fromhealthcare delivery, technology andpolicy-making to overcoming barriers toaccess and affordability.
This #UHCDay, we call on leaders topromote innovation to get us back on
track to achieving #HealthForAll.

Everyone’s health needs differ. But
everyone, everywhere, needs access toquality health services and ﬁnancial
protection.
This #UHCDay, we urge leaders toprioritize new ways of doing things –from health policies and partnerships tocommunity health initiatives.

This #UHCDay, we’re calling for greaterand more reliable investments in newtechnologies and digital health.
It’s time to promote policies, laws andregulations that improve thecost-effectiveness of health systems andthe efﬁciency of service delivery.

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KEY BACKGROUND

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High-LevelMeeting onUniversal HealthCoverage

On 21 September 2023, heads of state and government convened at theUnited Nations General Assembly for the High-level Meeting on Universal
Health Coverage, Expanding our ambition for health and well-being in a
post-COVID world, where they approved the Political Declaration on UHC
and re-committed to making health for all a reality by 2030.
During the meeting, Member States unanimously recognized that UHC isfundamental to achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals,including those related to poverty eradication, access to education, genderequality, climate change and building peaceful and inclusive societies.
They also reafﬁrmed that the way forward to making progress towards
UHC needs to be based on a people-centered primary health careapproach.

We’ve heard the commitments. Now it’s time for action.

For more information about the High-Level Meeting: UHC2030.org
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Tracking
Universal Health
Coverage:2023 GlobalMonitoring
ReportAhead of the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC, the World HealthOrganization and World Bank published Tracking Universal Health
Coverage: 2023 Global Monitoring Report. According to the report, theworld is off-track to make signiﬁcant progress towards UHC by 2030.
Improvements to health service coverage have stagnated since 2015, andthe proportion of the population that faced catastrophic levels ofout-of-pocket health spending has increased.
Following the launch of the report, the Civil Society Engagement
Mechanism for UHC2030 published commentary to highlight civil society
perspectives on progress toward UHC and calls to action for governments.

It is time to get progress towards universal health coverage
for all back on track. Millions of lives depend on it.

For more information about the 2023 monitoring report: WHO.int, CSEMOnline.net
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