PHDC 2023 recommends increasing investments in health sector

CAIRO – 8 September 2023: The Global Congress on Population, Health and Development 2023 (PHDC’23) recommended that all partners from the relevant ministries, as well as the private and community sectors invest in comprehensive public services, especially in the areas of health, education, transport and energy, create decent work and employment opportunities, facilitate access to social protection, promote gender equality and empower women as key strategies for developing human capital, facilitating economic stability and competitiveness, and enhancing environmental resilience and appropriate responses to climate change.

PHDC 2023's recommendations, which were read out by Health and Population Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar at the end of the three-day conference on Friday, also emphasized the importance of non-governmental organizations playing an active role in mobilizing community and family support, increasing access to and acceptability of reproductive health services, including family planning, cooperating with governments in the process of preparing and delivering care based on informed choice, and increasing international and domestic funding for population, health and development programs for the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular for programs related to ending unmet needs for family planning, preventable maternal deaths and harmful practices.

It also recommended increasing partnerships with the private sector in the population, health and development programs, especially in the areas of mobilizing financing, providing services, producing and distributing goods, promoting innovations, including in social marketing, and promoting trends that support the society’s adoption of the small family concept, so that population goals and the demographic opportunities can be achieved.f

The conference also encouraged donor agencies and local funding sources to finance primary health care projects, integrated care, and health and family education projects, and open new horizons for job opportunities for young people, especially women, in new urban communities to support women’s empowerment and activate decentralization to ensure effective participation in the development and implementation of population policies