Overview of the meeting
The decline in global aid volumes has intensified the emphasis on domestic public financing as the foundation for sustainable and equitable health outcomes. There is a growing imperative for low- and middle-income countries to develop realistic domestic fiscal and budgetary frameworks— supported by adaptive public financial management (PFM) processes—to ensure that public resources are efficiently allocated and used for priority health services.
To accelerate progress in this area, WHO’s Health Financing team has partnered—since early 2025—with key global health organizations, including the World Bank, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. As a result of this collaboration, they are convening global and country leaders for the upcoming Global Forum on “Accelerating Public Financial Management Reform in Health through Joint Action”, scheduled for 1–5 December 2025.
Meeting objectives
The Global Forum will serve as a platform to share global guidance, foster cross-country learning and strengthen coordination of technical support for PFM reforms in health. It will bring together global and national stakeholders committed to building resilient and sustainably financed health systems, with a focus on three key objectives:
- Deepen global understanding: Strengthen awareness of the critical link between PFM and health financing reforms—particularly in the context of transitions toward self-reliant health systems, with a strong emphasis on primary health care (PHC).
- Promote country-led good practices: Facilitate the exchange of successful experiences and peer learning across countries and regions. Highlight key policy actions that can accelerate the adaptation of PFM systems to better support universal health coverage (UHC) and PHC-oriented reforms.
- Enhance partner coordination: Foster greater alignment and coordination among key health development partners to ensure coherent, efficient and harmonized support for PFM reforms in health.
Background
More than a decade ago, in 2014, the WHO launched the Montreux Collaborative to highlight the vital links between domestic revenue generation, PFM and health financing policies and reforms. Over the past decade, this initiative—driven by strong collaboration with a broad spectrum of domestic and international partners—has played a pivotal role in embedding health financing within wider fiscal and public finance frameworks. As a result, PFM principles are now increasingly integrated into health system and financing reform efforts. Today, there is broad consensus among national health and finance leaders, development partners, academics and civil society that the path to sustainable and equitable health outcomes— particularly UHC—is inseparable from the strength, effectiveness and agility of PFM systems.
Event details
The registration for in-person attendance is now closed. However, if you would like to attend virtually, please complete the registration form here.