UHC Day 2025: Turning global promises into local action
Welcome to this week’s UHC Day update, where we’re continuing our series on how to use your voice to advocate for UHC and have a greater say in government decisions about your health.
Global UHC commitments
In 2023, countries around the world reaffirmed their commitment to health for all by adopting the Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC. In doing so, they recognized UHC as fundamental to achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – not only those related to health and well-being (SDG 3), but also those related to poverty eradication, access to education, gender equality, climate change and building peaceful and inclusive societies.
Last year, WHO Member States endorsed the Resolution on social participation for universal health coverage and well-being, which builds on commitments to UHC by calling for more inclusive governance for health.
This year, WHO Member States further advanced commitments by adopting the Resolution on strengthening health financing globally. This timely resolution offers a blueprint for using limited resources more effectively and investing in health as a foundation for economic stability, health system efficiency, and long-term development.
These are just a few recent examples of efforts to advance global commitments to health for all, with countries around the world showing broad agreement on the need to accelerate progress towards UHC. But how are these big promises made on the global stage being kept and implemented at national and local levels?
Turning global promises into local action
Global commitments are important, but they don’t automatically change things in your village, town or city. They must be converted into tangible laws, policies and budgets to ensure the change reaches you, your loved ones and your community. Until that happens, communities and people will continue to face inequality and barriers to care every day, such as long waits at clinics or emergency departments, or not being able to afford the medicines or treatments they need.
This is where social participation comes into play. Implementing UHC commitments becomes more effective, equitable and grounded in reality when communities help shape how global commitments are put into practice. Decision-makers must include community voices - and in particular the voices of the most vulnerable and marginalized among us - when building and shaping health systems. It’s simple, really: for health systems to serve everyone, everyone must get a say.
Health systems are shaped by policy decisions, and those decisions can, and should, include you! When people like you raise your voice, health systems become fairer and stronger, services improve, and people get health services that are actually tailored to their needs.
Social participation at play
In Mozambique, community participation has helped bridge life-threatening gaps in health services. When funding cuts led to a shortage of HIV counselors and peer educators, young people stepped in. Through the Resilient and Empowered Adolescents and Young people (READY) programme, led by the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) in partnership with Frontline AIDS, trained youth supporters began offering HIV testing, counselling and referrals within their communities.
Their quick action kept essential services running for adolescents and young people living with HIV, showing the power of community-led, youth-driven solutions to strengthen health systems from the ground up.
Through this peer-led model, communities have taken ownership of identifying and responding to local health needs. They have also documented lessons learned from these efforts and shared them with local health authorities, helping to ensure that community insights inform district-level planning and reinforce collaboration between civil society and government.
Initiatives such as this one sustain essential services in times of crisis while fostering collaboration between communities and government entities. They also ensure that the real, lived experiences of communities are taken into account to shape more inclusive and accountable health systems in the long term.
What you can do
Sometimes the biggest changes start with the smallest actions. Start by sitting down to think about your local health services. Do they cater fairly to the needs of everyone in your community? Can everyone access health services without being pushed into poverty? Are wait times reasonable and medicines affordable?
Write a list of things within your local health system that feel unfair or could be improved. The first step in taking action and creating change is understanding the problem.
Take it one step further. If you’ve ever had to choose between paying for medicines or a visit to the doctor and other necessities, such as food, housing and education, share your story in a short video. Publish it on social media platforms and use the hashtags #HealthCostsHurt and #UHCDay so that we and other advocates can amplify it! Bonus: Tag your decision-makers to help them understand the challenges your community faces when accessing health services!
When we come together to share our stories with our communities and decision-makers, we bring social participation to life. By telling your story, you can help decision-makers understand and respond to the real challenges and needs of your community.
Finally, don’t forget to register for the youth capacity-building workshop on 4 November 2025, where we will provide practical tools and tips to help you harness the power of personal storytelling to influence high-level decision-makers. (The workshop will be available in English, Spanish and French.)
Tool spotlight
Spread the word about the human impact of unaffordable health costs! Use the UHC Day campaign graphics and ready-to-use social media posts to remind government decision-makers that behind every statistic is a valuable human life.
Check back in next week to find out the importance of making sure a diverse range of voices are heard!