Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 – ensuring health and well-being for all at all ages – is critical to achieving progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Because health is an integral part of human capital and a precondition, driver and outcome of sustainable development, SDG 3 is linked to around 50 health-related targets across the SDGs and the pledge to leave no one behind. The overall objective of the Global Action Plan is to enhance collaboration among 12 global organizations engaged in health, development and humanitarian responses to accelerate country progress on the health-related SDG targets. The Plan presents a new approach to strengthening collaboration among and joint action by the organizations, building on an initial joint commitment made in October 2018. The Plan is primarily intended to be strategic but provides some operational detail to guide implementation while also allowing flexibility for adjustment based on regular reviews of progress and learning from experience. Although the purpose of the Global Action Plan is not to provide or seek additional resources, the Plan will enable better use of existing resources as a result of improved collaboration, recognizing that each agency has its own unique mandate and area of expertise.

Countries are at the forefront of efforts to achieve the health-related SDG targets. The 12 signatory agencies to this Global Action Plan (“the agencies”) also play important roles in the global health architecture, collectively working to advance all the SDG 3 targets and many other health-related targets in the 2030 Agenda. The agencies’ mandates range from health financing to normative and policy guidance, technical cooperation, market shaping, convening stakeholders and humanitarian responses. Together, the agencies channel nearly one-third of all development assistance for health. Several also play important catalytic roles in supporting countries to raise domestic resources for health and attract more public and private sector investment and engagement. The commitments made by the agencies in the Global Action Plan provide a unique opportunity to more effectively leverage their comparative advantages and joint capacity. The Global Action Plan recognizes that other stakeholders, including communities, civil society and the private sector make vital contributions to achieving the SDGs and promotes closer engagement with these key partners.