Universal health coverage (UHC), central to better health and well-being for all, delivers gains across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and embodies the 2030 Agenda pledge to leave no one behind. The Political Declaration: Universal Health Coverage: moving together to build a healthier world commits Member States to covering an additional one billion people with health services by 2023 and reversing the impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket health expenditures on the poorest. It also reaffirms “health is a precondition for and an outcome and indicator of sustainable development” and recognizes UHC as fundamental to achieving the SDGs.

In line with UNDP’s ‘Strategic Plan 2018–2021’ and ‘HIV, Health and Development Strategy 2016–2021: Connecting the Dots’, UNDP contributes to UHC. This UNDP Issue Brief on ‘Universal Health Coverage for Sustainable Development’ outlines UNDP’s contributions toward supporting countries to remove barriers to health and improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of health care and systems. UNDP’s approach to UHC  focuses on policy and programme support to strengthen governance and institutions to deliver universal access to basic services, including through the protection and promotion of human rights and by addressing the social, economic, commercial, and environmental determinants of health. The Issue Brief also provides examples of UNDP’s work, partnerships and approaches to (1) reduce inequalities and social exclusion that drive HIV and poor health, (2) promote effective and inclusive governance for health, and (3) build resilient and sustainable systems for health.