Happy UHC Day! 🎉

The day has come to take to social media, write those emails and letters and get out into your community to call for universal health coverage! Head to this year’s toolkit for inspiration.

Today we celebrate your voice, your power, and the global movement for health for all. Happy Universal Health Coverage Day!

Over the past few weeks, we have explored what social participation really means, why it matters, and how everyday people can influence big decisions about health.

Look how far you have come!

You started this series discovering how global commitments like the WHA resolution on social participation and the 2019 and 2023 UHC political declarations relate to your country’s context, and how these commitments can translate to national laws, policies and health plans.

You learned how to bring all the right people to the table and amplify the most marginalized voices. Then you delved into how to build your capacity as an advocate and how to identify the right times and places to engage.

You explored advocacy tools and strategies, from clear messaging and powerful storytelling to forming strong, practical asks. You learned how to influence policy, build networks and grow your movement. And you tackled the topic of measuring what matters — tracking progress, gathering feedback, and showing real impact in people’s lives and in health policies.

So, as it turns out, this wasn’t just a simple Substack series! Over the past weeks you have been building a toolkit for lasting change - and today it’s time to put those tools to good use!

Why is today so important?

Each year UHC Day reminds us that health is a human right — and that health systems work best when they are shaped by the people who use them. Each story, letter, post or meeting brings us one step closer to the world we want to see - a world where everyone can exercise the right to health regardless of their income, geography, status or identity.

Social participation at play

Today, you are the author of this section! Take the tools you have learned here and take action, then write your own social participation story. And don’t forget to share it with us on your social channels and to tag UHC2030 and the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM).

And to back up your work with data, you can dive into UHC2030’s new Global UHC Action Tracker (ACT for UHC), an evidence-based report and data dashboard designed to monitor whether governments are delivering on their UHC commitments. These tools shine a new light on promises made versus promises kept, offering advocates and decision-makers the data needed to demand and drive change. Click here to get started.

What you can do

The sky is your limit today. We all have our own unique ways of advocating and we want to see you in action. If you’re not sure where to start, try taking one simple step:

• Join the annual UHC Day Town Hall taking place at 2 p.m. CET today.

• Use the UHC Day toolkit to spread awareness about the urgent need for UHC.

• Share your story using the #HealthCostsHurt hashtag.

• Add your event, publication or announcement to the global heatmap.

• Use the advocacy templates to call on your decision-makers to protect people from unaffordable health costs.

• Commit to staying involved throughout the year.

Thank you for joining this series, and for being willing to learn, share and build your capacity. We need people like you to bring about real and lasting change.

Your voice matters, so get out there today and use it to send a clear message to your policymakers: Unaffordable health costs? We’re sick of it!