This session will be part of the 5th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research 2018, taking place 8-12 October 2018.
In spite of the adoption of a “transformative” Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighting the interconnectedness of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), policy coherence and multisectoral approaches remain a vision difficult to implement. The international network of global health policy think tanks “THINK_SDGs” has conducted scoping studies in 21 countries of South Asia, Latin America, and Eastern and Southern Africa to better understand the level of domestication of health-related SDGs and governance mechanisms that have been developed for their implementation. On the basis of these studies, the session will compare the experiences of different countries and regions, identify lessons learnt and existing gaps in multisectoral action, and analyse their implication for health equity. Through the sharing of lessons learnt from different contexts, the session will aim, through a consultative, participatory process, to identify some common challenges and potential actions towards shared solutions, including best practices to mainstream health SDGs into development and national policies.
The target audience of the session includes researchers from health and health-related fields with an interest in the political dimension of SDG implementation and governance-for-health approaches, as well as policymakers interested in engaging with policy research institutions to accelerate progress on the implementation of health-related SDGs.
The learning objectives, therefore, include on one hand, a better understanding of the linkages between governance mechanisms for SDG implementation, health financing, and access to health; and on the other hand, greater awareness of the role of think tanks in addressing governance challenges to promote better health outcomes.
