medical advice risks diminishing trust in healthcare providers. AI holds promise for expanding access to knowledge, but also necessitates placing human knowledge at its core, alongside rigorous safeguards against misinformation. Rebuilding trust requires more than fact checking. It demands delivery and equity. Consider the Global Fund’s partnership model, which has saved over 65 million lives since 2002 by uniting governments, the private sector and civil society to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Pulling back threatens to dismantle the very infrastructure and trust we have spent decades building. Instead, we must demonstrate that sustained, collective action delivers tangible results and saves lives. Pandemics, conflicts and climate shocks are interconnected crises, yet our systems to address them remain fragmented and weak. A pandemic response without inclusive governance or social protection falters. In conflict zones, health care collapses without reliable energy or communication infrastructure. In climate emergencies, unprepared systems leave communities vulnerable. Health cannot remain siloed but must be integrated across systems shaping climate, nature and biodiversity outcomes, including One Health approaches and planetary health
ACHIM STEINER Achim Steiner served as the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from June 2017 to June 2025. He was also the vice-chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system that work to support sustainable development. Prior to joining UNDP, he was director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr Steiner led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006–2016) and was also director-general of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. He previously held other notable positions including director-general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and secretary-general of the World Commission on Dams. X-TWITTER @asteiner
strategies. Indeed, some of the greatest returns still come from the basics: clean water, sanitation, air quality and adequate nutrition – the critical determinants of health. Vast global resources exist but they are poorly aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, including those on health. Moreover, as official aid continues its downward trajectory, we must link financing better to the SDGs and the Paris Agreement and unlock more innovative financing. That includes increasing domestic financing for health through domestic resource mobilisation and taxation and exploring innovative funding models and partnerships for more effective, sustainable financing. For instance, UNDP’s Tax for SDGs Initiative has supported Armenia to raise tobacco excise taxes, expecting to generate $130 million in additional revenue, which could be invested in achieving its health and development goals.
WHAT IT WILL TAKE The past decade has radically transformed our world, intensifying the challenges in advancing the SDGs. Global health now includes new players such as technology companies and philanthropic actors, even as multilateralism remains in flux. Yet what is needed to achieve health and well-being for all remains unchanged: long-term investment, global cooperation, effective governance, and a focus on impact and those left behind. The adoption of the Pandemic Agreement by WHO members is driven by this objective: to make the world’s future pandemic response more effective and equitable. This leadership reminds us that advancing health equity requires collective, universal action. Complexity may define our present, but it remains a diagnosis, not an incurable condition. By aligning the forces shaping health, strengthening inclusive governance and building resilient systems, we can realise a world where our collective immune system – of solidarity, innovation and action – can withstand any crisis and ensure well-being for all. ▪
“ To build resilience, life-saving tools must become public goods: resources or services accessible to everyone, regardless of income or location, and provided equitably without exclusion”
Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World 13
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