Inputs to the Outcome Document

Financing for Sustainable Progress to Universal Health Coverage

This brief offers a global overview of health spending and highlights the critical role of health expenditure data in shaping policies to achieve the SDG health targets. It calls on countries and global partners to strengthen health expenditure tracking via health accounts to improve policymaking, enhance transparency, and promote accountability.

Reducing poverty, ending hunger and fulfilling the 2030 Agenda is possible by increasing targeted investments where they are needed the most. Increased financing for food systems as key accelerators to achieve the SDGs is needed along with better targeting of vulnerable groups, including rural communities, small-scale producers (especially women and youth) and Indigenous Peoples to leave no one behind. Recommendations include increasing ODA for sustainable food systems, climate adaptation and rural development, strengthening PDBs and MDBs, leveraging remittances, and rechanneling SDRs to mobilize grater investments for sustainable food systems, rural development and climate adaptation.

Remittances and diaspora investments are a major source of external private finance crucial for achieving SDGs, but their full potential remains largely untapped. Member States should acknowledge their potential and renew and expand their commitments to maximize their impact to development, ensuring access to formal, affordable, and secure remittance services through supportive regulations, improved payment systems, digital solutions, and promoting financial inclusion for both migrants and their families back home. At the same time, Member States should facilitate and support diaspora investments to homeland SMEs by creating diaspora engagement strategies and supportive environments, capacity-building for diaspora members, involve them in policy development, remove investment barriers, and provide adequate mechanisms to crowd in their investment.

Financing the Pathway Towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Improving Health Sector Priority Setting

This brief argues that taxation policies on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks present a timely and effective strategy for advancing sustainable development while improving public health and well-being. Health taxes not only generate government revenue through higher tax rates but also promote healthier behaviors, leading to improved health outcomes and productivity gains that benefit society as a whole. Over the next five years, increases in tobacco, alcohol, and SSB taxes could generate an additional $3.7 trillion USD in government revenues globally—an average of $740 billion USD per year, equivalent to 12% of global health budgets and 0.75% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).