Meeting background
- The decline in aid volumes has sharpened the focus on domestic public financing as the cornerstone of sustainable and equitable health outputs. Low- and middle-income countries are now called upon to develop realistic fiscal and budgetary scenarios, underpinned by robust and agile public financial management systems, to ensure that public funds are allocated and used efficiently for priority health services. To accelerate progress on this front, WHO’s Health Financing team has joined forces since early 2025 with key global health organizations, including the World Bank, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Together, they are convening global and country leaders to participate in the upcoming Global Forum on "Accelerating Public Financial Management Reform in Health through Joint Action".
- The Global Forum will serve as a platform to share global guidance, foster cross-country learning, and strengthen coordination of technical support for public financial management (PFM) reforms in health. It will bring together global and national stakeholders committed to building resilient and sustainably financed health systems, with a focus on three key objectives.
Meeting objectives
- Deepen global understanding: Strengthen awareness of the critical link between PFM and health financing reforms—particularly in the context of transitions toward self-reliant health systems, with a strong emphasis on primary health care (PHC).
- Promote country-led good practices: Facilitate the exchange of successful experiences and peer learning across countries and regions. Highlight key policy actions that can accelerate the adaptation of PFM systems to better support universal health coverage (UHC) and PHC-oriented reforms.
- Enhance partner coordination: Foster greater alignment and coordination among key health development partners to ensure coherent, efficient, and harmonized support for PFM reforms in health.