reality daily. As part of our efforts to support SDG3, we partner with health ministries, healthcare professionals and community-based health workers so that children can access primary health care. In countries around the world, our colleagues are supporting the expansion of immunisation campaigns in hard-to-reach locations, training community health workers and supporting health facilities to provide essential services that meet the specific needs of children. Children have the right to survive, to thrive and to be protected. Yet in this perfect storm of multiple crises it has become increasingly difficult to address their immediate needs at the same time as investing in people, systems and structures that will protect against future shocks. The solutions are known, but access to health care remains a political choice – and requires leaders to sacrifice short-term political gain to achieve better outcomes for children.
INGER ASHING Inger Ashing is the chief executive officer of Save the Children International. A respected child rights activist, she set up her own youth organisation at the age of 12, working against racism and violence. Since then Inger has been determined to make children’s voices heard. She has been associated with Save the Children for more than 25 years, first serving as a youth advocate and later on the boards of Save the Children Sweden and Save the Children International. Prior to her appointment as CEO in September 2019, Inger held various national and international roles focused on children’s rights, most recently as the director-general at the Swedish Agency against Segregation. X-TWITTER @SaveCEO_Intl savethechildren.net
reduction strategies so that health systems can sense, prepare, react, adapt and learn. It builds child-sensitive social protection systems that are resilient and responsive to crises such as conflict, economic shocks, climate-related shocks or global health emergencies.
Inequitable access to basic health and nutrition services makes achieving universal health coverage a far-off reality unless urgent efforts are undertaken” “ So what does a resilient national health system that prioritises primary health care look like? • It provides a comprehensive package of health and nutrition services that is available to all. • INVESTING IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE Major causes of child mortality can be addressed at the local level by working with communities, including community health workers. Promoting and implementing a comprehensive – and integrated – package of services across health, nutrition and water, sanitation and health can avert the deaths of millions of children each year. Primary health care is our biggest silver bullet – and yet implementing it remains a big challenge, due to high costs often paid directly by patients that put it further out of reach for the poorest families. It strengthens the health and care workforce by ensuring safe working environments and fair pay – which is, sadly, currently lacking. It invests in emergency preparedness and risk •
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GROUNDING GLOBAL PROCESSES The world is vastly unequal, and the inclusion of under-represented voices is important – civil society, including children, can and must play a critical role in addressing health as a political choice. Progress at the global level can only be achieved if all of us enable and prioritise investment in national systems. Rebeca, 18, who travelled from El Salvador to Geneva earlier this year, told member states at the World Health Assembly: “There are currently around 1.3 billion young people between the ages of 12 and 24 in the world, representing 16% of the world’s population, and our participation in efforts to achieve sustainable development is fundamental to achieving inclusive, democratic and just societies. Therefore, nothing about us without us.” Governments, donors, international financial institutions, civil society and the private sector are all promising to invest in health systems, and deliver on universal health coverage, but these efforts must be accelerated. We must work better together if we are to meet our 2030 goals. With an estimated 100 million people pushed into poverty each year due to healthcare costs, and only one in four children globally receiving some form of social protection benefit, we must not fail the world’s children. ▪
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Health: A Political Choice – From Fragmentation to Integration
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