21-22 June United Nations, Geneva: during the two-day annual Health20 (H20) Summit hosted at the UN Palais, G20 and G7 policy-makers, politicians, International Organisations, the global health community, economists and investors are coming together to discuss the future role of health within the new Geopolitical Order and the need for greater cohesiveness between the G20 and G7 Presidencies.

Day one of the summit recognised that governments in the aftermath of COVID-19 now accept the principle that spending on health is a valuable economic and social investment.

To meet future needs of highly indebted countries that cannot currently increase their spending on health and climate change, speakers will call for a sustainable finance framework for global health that eases the sovereign debt burden so that domestic resources can be repurposed, matched by multilateral institutions, with catalytic funds from the private sector.

The launch of a report during the summit will provide a roadmap and toolkit for governments, the health community and investors to help bridge the dead valley of communication between both sectors and to unlock collaboration opportunities to close existing funding gaps in health that is expected to exceed US$ 16.9 trillion by 2050.

With seven years left to catch up in delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The H20 Summit will demonstrate the increasing interdependence of significant global challenges including geopolitical tensions, biodiversity loss, energy, food and water scarcity and climate change challenges.

Given that COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a global health threat, speakers will stress that health must not fade away from global and national political debates and will call on G20+ Leaders, Ministers of Health and Finance to tigger a systems rethink and move up from a reactive health finance approach to a proactive one.

Politicians from across the G20+ countries will call on a stronger alignment and future coordination with the G20 and G7 as policy-priorities set in multilateral fora have to trickle down more effectively to be implemented sustainably by national policy-makers for a new Global Health Architecture to meet the challenges that we are facing today, tomorrow, and for the next generation.

Speakers at the Summit Said:

“Most governments in the G7 & G20 now accept the principle that spending on health is a valuable economic and social investment. That is an important step. However, the task now is for the G20 & G7 to build a sustainable funding framework for global health that attracts resources from domestic public funds, multilateral institutions and the private sector, I believe that is now achievable.” Alan Donnelly, Chair of The G20 & G7 Health and Development Partnership

“The term Sustainable Finance in Health has been used in 18 out of 44 Communiques within G20 and G7 fora in the last 7 years. Still, there has been a lack of clarity of in its definition and how it can be used effectively between the health and investment community to unlock further private or impact capital. We must bridge the dead valley of communication – We have already done this for the climate change agenda.” Hatice Beton, Executive Director, G20 & G7 Health and Development Partnership

“With its wider network, the Health20 provides a critical platform to support the convergence of G7 and G20 agendas. The G7 Presidency is committed to follow up on the health-related outcomes of the G7 Hiroshima Summit including to enabling discussions between the health and finance community for the advancement of Universal Health Coverage.” Satoshi Ezoe, Director, Global Health Strategy Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Japan

“The H20 summit provides a timely opportunity to open a dialogue so the investor community can speak more effectively to health ministries, Development Finance Institutions and the global health community, to help close some of the existing funding gaps through their catalytic investments.” Dame Angela Eagle DBE, Member of the UK House of Commons, Global Ambassador G20 & G7 Health, and Development Partnership