MAIN ROLE:
The United Nations System and its specialized agencies are uniquely positioned to engage and influence decision makers within and outside of their organizations to create healthier communities. In particular, they are positioned to deal with global factors and actors influencing health determinants and social justice in health. They provide important forums for promoting evidence, establishing best practice guidelines and facilitating exchange and learning on actions to address health determinants.
LINKS TO SDGs:
The SDGs are an enabler for integration, including across the work of the UN system and international organizations. There is a high level of commonality between the SDGs and the improvement of the determinants of health and so strategies and interventions can be harmonized to progress the overlapping agendas. Out of the 107 SDG targets, 60 explicitly refer to at least one other goal than the one to which they belong. For example, there are clear connections between health (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), growth (SDG 8) and gender (SDG 5). The UN system and international organizations are well-placed to implement the 17 Goals and action on the determinants of health through the work of supporting countries, global governance, promoting development and advocacy, monitoring and enforcing international norms and standards, coordinating actors toward common goals, and capacity strengthening.
HOW DO WE ENGAGE WITH OTHER SECTORS: