Life course

Life course

WHO/Y. Shimizu 2016
Rehabilitation services at Medical Corporation SEIWAKAI, Japan. 2016
© Credits
 
 

A life course approach to health aims to ensure people’s well-being at all ages by addressing people’s needs, ensuring access to health services, and safeguarding the human right to health throughout their life time.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
Areas of work

Ensuring healthy lives at all ages

 

 

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) for 2030 is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”, a goal that crosscuts with the other SDGs. A life course approach supports this goal by providing a holistic view of people’s health and well-being at all ages.


 

 

 

 

 

Areas of work

Bringing together the building blocks for universal health coverage

 

 

We bring together the building blocks for universal health coverage (UHC), centred on health systems strengthening and primary health care (PHC). This ensure alignment between the systems, financing and workforce needed.

Our work is aimed at strengthening service delivery in countries for more impact, with a people-centred focus which is built from strong PHC. It emphasizes addressing people’s health needs across life phases, including maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, and healthy adulthood and ageing. It also relates to specific health concerns including sexual and reproductive health and rights, communicable and non-communicable diseases, gender-based violence, and immunization.


 

 

 

 

 

Areas of work

Supporting the work of countries

 

 

WHO’s UHC Compendium of Interventions includes packages of evidence-based, people-centered, integrated and cost-effective health interventions across the life course and specific health programmes as a resource for national health plans and insurance strategies. 

We also work with countries to address multisectoral risk factors, including those related to equity, gender inequality, human rights, clean air, water and energy and other social and environmental determinants that affect people’s health and well-being.