Working together for equity and healthier populations: sustainable multisectoral collaboration based on health in all policies approaches

World Health Organization

13 Nov 2023

Working together for equity and healthier populations: sustainable multisectoral collaboration based on health in all policies approaches

Governments across the globe are increasingly facing intersecting social, political, economic and environmental challenges. Among these are social inequalities that impact health dramatically. Health is created and destroyed by many different factors in society and in the environment, beyond an individual's behaviour and direct control. The growing evidence base supporting the call for social and environmental justice underscores this point. The 2022 Geneva Charter for  ell-being stresses that fairer societies are healthier societies. In response, there is growing recognition of the importance of inter- and multisectoral collaboration among ministries and departments to achieve sustainable development. Following the Paris Agreement, the call for a “just transition” to a low carbon-based economy has gained traction in the acknowledgement that policy goals do not naturally align. Not all climate transition policies will yield positive health and social impacts. For example, insulation and energy pricing may have negative health and health equity impacts, arising through poorer air quality; and forest protection initiatives may focus too little on material wealth and cultural issues impacting health for Indigenous Peoples.