International dialogue on sustainable financing for NCDs and mental health

Background

The International dialogue on sustainable financing for NCDs and mental health (International financing dialogue) is a response to specific recommendations of the first High-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the prevention and control of NCDs High-level meetings held in 2011, and further reaffirmed in subsequent High-level meetings of the United Nations on NCDs held in 2014 and 2018, which included, to “explore the provision of adequate, predictable and sustained resources, through domestic, bilateral, regional and multilateral channels, including traditional and voluntary innovative financing mechanisms”, and to “take measures to develop and implement national policies and plans, with financial and human resources allocated particularly to addressing NCDs”.

This is the second meeting of series initiated in 2018 with the WHO Global Dialogue on Partnership for Sustainable Financing of Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The International financing dialogue is one of the preparatory meetings WHO is organizing to support preparatory process leading up to the Fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and mental health in 2025. The meeting is a collaboration between WHO and the World Bank .

The objectives of the International financing dialogue include:

• To define and build consensus among a range of interested stakeholders on actionable national strategies and policy recommendations that enable and enhance the integration of NCDs and mental health in national health financing systems and discuss their implications in varied contexts – in informing health financing reforms that can sustain adequate, stable, and predictable financing; enable strategic purchasing; and enhance financial protection.
• To discuss and identify approaches on how to integrate prioritized NCDs and mental health responses within national health and financing plans, with the aim of providing high-quality, equitable NCD and mental health services that are integrated into existing health systems and broader public health ecosystems.
• To inform a forward-looking agenda that can guide countries towards accelerating progress and realizing the targets under SDG 3.4 by 2030 – as a key milestone in the process for the 4th High-level Meeting of UNGA on NCDs (2025) and beyond.

The outcome document of the International financing dialogue will aim to guide countries towards realizing SDG targets 3.4 and 3.8 by 2030. In addition to actionable national strategies and policy recommendations, the outcome document will set out how stakeholders can effectively align themselves with actionable national strategies and implement the policy recommendations. A draft of the outcome document will be prepared and subject to a pre-meeting online consultation with Member States, non-State actors, the UN system, WHO and the World Bank.

Modalities

The International financing dialogue will bring together up to 120 participants and include representatives from selected Member States across different sectors (health, finance, development, environment, private, etc.), WHO, UN agencies, the World Bank Group and other multilateral organizations, interested non-State actors, including civil society and people living with NCDs and mental health conditions.

The International financing dialogue will use an in-person format with the potential for virtual participation.

Consultation process

In addition, WHO and the World Bank held a hybrid (in-person and virtual) multistakeholder briefing on 15 March 2024 to share an overview of the preparation for the International financing dialogue. An outline of the technical background papers, in preparation of an open web-based consultation on the documents was provided. The multistakeholder briefing comprised of non-State actors in official relationships with WHO, UN agencies, and multilateral organizations.

Further web-based multistakeholder consultations will be held between 1 and 24 May 2024 to enable all interested parties to contribute their views (access the consultation page here).

Language

The working language of the meeting is English with interpretation provided in all official UN languages.

The concept note and additional information, including the meeting logistics and working documents, will be made available shortly.