IAPO and the social participation agenda

WHA77 Side Event

On the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA77), which took place from 27 May to 1 June 2024 in Geneva, the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO) and The Synergist jointly hosted the side event “Leveraging patient organizations as key partners in the delivery of Universal Health Coverage”.

The event discussed the importance of social participation in the delivery of universal health coverage and highlighted patient organizations' fundamental role in shaping patient-centred health systems.

It also aimed to inspire the patient community to join forces and garner political endorsement for the resolution on social participation, which ended up being adopted by Member States at WHA77. 

The side event recording is available on IAPO’s YouTube channel and you can access it on demand by clicking here.

All content of the Side Event was captured live by the graphic facilitator Ia Brix Ohmann and you can see the final drawing by clicking here. 

 

The Global Patient Think Tank and the UHC Compass

The Global Patient Think Tank (GPTT) is a diverse group of patient community representatives from across the globe, convened by Roche. The GPTT has come together to ensure the patient community voice is integrated into the global movement for universal health coverage (UHC), including policy discussion, inclusion into national design, governance and implementation, and at the primary healthcare level.

Work of the GPTT focuses on integrating the patient community perspective and voice in the global UHC movement and local decision-making and governance to advance UHC. Last year, a Joint Statement has been developed and socialised at UNGA 2023, UHC Day and beyond, calling upon relevant stakeholders to include the patient community in UHC decision-making.

With regards to supporting patient organisations on the ground, the UHC Compass is currently being co-created and tested with the aim to support local patient leaders and communities to concretely advance UHC on the ground. The UHC Compass tool will be available in Q3/4 2024.

See this linked presentation for more information on the GPTT and the UHC Compass and how you can get engaged in the co-creation process. Click here to read the Joint Statement and here to see the Socialisation Guide.

 

Patient Movement Catalyst

The global Patient Movement Catalyst (PMC) is a vision-based, motivation-driven group of patient representatives, experts of lived experience, and patient engagement champions who are co-crafting real and actionable strategies to help get us there - more efficiently - more effectively - more sustainably.

This starts with enabling patient organizations to be able to act with their full operational agency (= ability, capacity, and willingness) by co-creating the enabling conditions. These are summarized in three pillars:

• Transforming the way patient representatives are ‘positioned’ and ‘embedded’ in global health systems decision-making structures
• Building and reinforcing the community capacity-building that will be required by these aspired roles
• Building and reinforcing greater financial diversification, autonomy, and independence through more innovative funding mechanisms

Click here to learn more and sign up for the PMC.

 

The BMJ editorial – "World leaders unite to embed social participation in health systems" 

In July 2024, Dani Mothci (IAPO's CEO) and Amanda Bok (Chief Strategy Officer, The Synergist), along with the side event speaker Antoine Boivin (Canada Research Chair in Partnership with Patients and Communities, Université de Montréal, Canada), co-authored the publication of an editorial in The BMJ that underscores global efforts to integrate social participation into healthcare systems worldwide. 

Other co-authors of the editorial include:

• Vincent Dumez - Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public

• Farin Shore - Doctors of the World

• With contributions from Ghislaine Rouly, Ellos Lodzeni (IAPO's Board Chair), Simon Denegri, Tessa Richards, and Myriam Fournier-Tombs.

Titled "World leaders unite to embed social participation in health systems" and published in the BMJ's patient-led issue "Patient Partnership: Time for patients to have a seat at every table," the editorial delves into the critical role of social participation as a pressing need and fundamental right in health policy design and practices while discussing strategies to amplify the patient voice across all levels of healthcare systems.

Click here to learn more details and read the editorial.

 

Webinar on social participation in health with CSEM and Frontline Aids

On 17 September IAPO is co-hosting a webinar with the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism for UHC2030 (CSEM) and Frontline Aids to bring civil society and community leaders together for an engaging discussion. Titled "What's next? Follow-up on the resolution on social participation for universal health coverage: Translating global commitments into national action", the webinar panellists will share valuable insights, lessons learned, and strategies for sustaining political support for social participation at both global and national levels.

Click here to learn more and register for the webinar.

 

European Health Forum Gastein 2024 – "Are decision-makers ready for participation?"

In September 2024, our partner Amanda Bok from The Synergist will be one of the speakers in the session "Are decision-makers ready for participation? Making a change with meaningful participation beyond tokenism," as part of the programme of the European Health Forum Gastein 2024.

Click here to learn more about the event.

 

PEOF Virtual Session – "Catalyzing Change: Using the WHO Resolution on Social Participation in health to achieve real patient-driven impact"

Our CEO, Daniela Espindula Mothci, will be speaking on the importance of integrating patient voices into healthcare to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The event will explore how conversations around the WHO resolution on social participation can be transformed into actionable strategies that spark real change in health systems worldwide. Thursday, 14 November 2024 14:00-16:00 CET  

Click here to learn more about the event.

 

IAPO statements at WHO Regional Committee meetings

In August 2024, IAPO delivered a statement on Agenda item 18.1 of the 74th session of WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. In alignment with the recently adopted resolution on social participation for universal health coverage, health, and well-being at the 77th World Health Assembly, IAPO urged Member States from the African region to fully commit to its implementation.

Click here to learn more and read the statement.

In early October 2024, IAPO delivered a statement on Agenda item 8.2 of the 77th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, held in New Delhi, India. IAPO's statement urged Member States to fully commit to the resolution and stressed that engaging patients, communities, and people with lived experience in policy design and implementation is key to accelerating progress toward safe, quality, equitable, and people-centred healthcare policies across South-East Asia.

Click here to read the statement.

In late October 2024, IAPO delivered a statement on Agenda item 9 of the 74th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. IAPO’s statement called on Member States to commit fully to the resolution, emphasising that involving patients, communities, and people with lived experience in policy design and implementation is essential to advancing safe, quality, equitable, and people-centred healthcare policies throughout Europe.

Click here to read the statement.