United Nations General Assembly
A resolution on Global Health and Foreign Policy adopted by UN Member States on 29 April 2025 includes specific reference to the Lusaka Agenda – the first-ever appearance in a document negotiated at the UN in New York.
Each year, under the leadership of Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, and Thailand, the General Assembly considers an overarching resolution on health. This year’s process was spearheaded by Thailand and focused on scaling up actions in health promotion, including disease prevention, technology transfer, and enhanced official development assistance and domestic financing.
From the text: “Noting the Shanghai Declaration on Promoting Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in which health and well-being are recognized as essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the duty to invest in health, ensure universal health coverage and reduce health inequities is emphasized, and the priorities of the Lusaka Agenda to better support countries for sustainably financed health systems and universal health coverage that leaves no one behind.”
In a statement from the floor, the EU also referenced the Lusaka Agenda, “As we collectively build a more robust global health architecture and look to better align our action, international support can be helpful as a complement to domestic efforts. Here, the EU and its Member States play their part in sustaining key Global Health Initiatives, while further encouraging their shift towards horizontal health system strengthening and country driven approaches in line with the Lusaka Agenda.”
This outcome reflects broadening awareness and uptake of the Lusaka Agenda principles in multilateral policy-making processes and creates precedent to reference the work in future processes, including the 2025 high-level meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health taking place in September.
World Health Assembly
On 24 May 2025, the World Health Assembly approved a Strengthening Health Financing Globally resolution. Led by Nigeria and co-sponsored by more than 20 member states, the resolution marked the first time in 15 years that the WHA discussed health financing. It includes the following reference: “Recognizing also the need to improve coordination of global health stakeholders to support the priorities, systems and plans of countries for universal health coverage and stronger health systems, in line with the Lusaka Agenda, which provides a path towards a joint long-term vision of domestically-financed health systems for universal health coverage designed to leave no one behind.”
Member states and non-state actors alike referenced the Lusaka Agenda as they took the floor in support of the resolution. Kenya’s intervention, on behalf of the 47 member states of the African region, was particularly compelling. Expressing deep concern at the alarming trend of decreased funding for health programs and the WHO, Kenya underscored that the “decrease in external support serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to bolster domestic resource mobilization and foster innovative financing solutions within our nations. The Lusaka Agenda for Africa is our roadmap. A strategy that prioritizes primary care, strengthens resilient health systems and champions sustainable domestic financing. It is a call for self-reliance and a blueprint for achieving health systems for all by Africans for Africans.”