universal healthcare

World Health Organization Executive Board 152nd Session

The 152nd session of the Executive Board takes place on 30 January – 7 February 2023. Proceedings will be webcast from this page:

who.int/about/governance/executive-board/executive-board-152nd-session

The Executive Board is composed of 34 technically qualified members elected for three-year terms. The main functions of the Board are to implement the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly, and to advise and generally facilitate its work.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights/NY, please visit childrightsny.org.

Interfaith Prayer Service: The impact of HIV among the marginalized within the marginalized

Dear colleagues,

You are kindly invited to an Interfaith Prayer Service for World AIDS Day on December 1, 2022, under the theme “The impact of HIV among the marginalized within the marginalized.”

The service will be held in Tillman Chapel at 777 United Nations Plaza, NY, New York 10017, and will begin at 1:00pm EST.

For those unable to attend in person, the event will be live-streamed at both youtube.com/@hivfaith and facebook.com/ushivfaith.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns/NY, please visit csvgc-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. 

U.N. International Day of Older Persons (IDOP2022)-Commemoration at UN Headquarters in New York

The United Nations International Day of Older Persons aims to enshrine and promote the rights of older persons, and to engage and mobilize advocates to protect those rights.

UNIDOP 2022 will involve a multi-stakeholder dialogue aimed to address the socioeconomic, environmental, and health experiences of older women, highlight their participation in helping to build resilient societies, and the importance of their full inclusion in policy development.

Register here: eventbrite.com/e/2022-international-day-of-older-persons-celebration-registration-411340148457

Registration is open now. Closes Sept. 23rd, 2022.

Where: ECOSOC Chamber (OR LIVE on webtv.un.org). In-person participants, please use the UN Headquarters Visitors’ entrance on First Avenue and 46th Street.

Language: ASL will be provided in English only; Closed captioning will be provided on UN Web-TV in English at media.un.org

UN Security: Security screening begins promptly at 9:00 a.m. at the Visitor’s entrance on 46th Street and 1st Avenue. Information will be provided on picking up a temporary grounds pass. A government-issued photo ID is required for this process. Wearing a mask is recommended. Proof of vaccination is not required.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing/NY, please visit ngocoa-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing/Vienna, please visit ngoageingvie.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing/Geneva, please visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/NY, please visit ngocsw.org. 

27th Session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The twenty-seventh session of the Committee will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva, in Room XVII at the Palais des Nations, from 15 August to 9 September 2022. The 1st meeting of the session will be convened on Monday, 15 August, at 10 am. A representative of the Secretary-General will open the session. The Committee will consider matters concerning the organization of the twenty-seventh session, in particular the adoption of its programme of work.

Registration available here: https://indico.un.org/event/1001249/

At its twenty-seventh session, the Committee will:

  • Consider the initial reports of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Singapore and the combined second and third reports of China, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea. In pursuance of established practice and in conformity with rule 41 of the rules of procedure, the Secretary-General has informed the parties concerned of the tentative dates on which their reports have been scheduled for consideration by the Committee. A schedule for the consideration of the reports will be set forth in the tentative programme of work, which will be made available on the web page of the Committee.
  • Discuss how to strengthen cooperation with United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and other competent bodies in order to enhance the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, including the empowerment and promotion of the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Representatives of such organizations and bodies may seek to address the Committee.
  • Continue its work on drafting a general comment on article 27 of the Convention, on the right of persons with disabilities to work and employment. The Committee will review the progress made by the working group established to draft guidelines on the deinstitutionalization of persons with disabilities, including in emergency situations, to supplement the Committee’s general comment No. 5 (2017) on living independently and being included in the community.

Provisional agenda

  1. Adoption of the agenda
  2. Organizational matters
  3. Report of the Chair on activities undertaken between the twenty-sixth and twenty- seventh sessions of the Committee
    Submission of reports by parties to the Convention under article 35
  4. Consideration of reports submitted by parties to the Convention under article 35
  5. Cooperation with other United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, organizations of persons with disabilities and other competent bodies
  6. General comments
  7. Methods of work of the Committee
  8. Activities under the Optional Protocol to the Convention
  9. Future meetings
  10. Other matters
  11. Adoption of the report on the twenty-seventh session

*Remote participation in private briefings may be granted only on an exceptional basis and under compelling reasons. Please contact Jorge.araya@un. org no later than 15 July, 2022.

However, civil society, including organizations of persons with disabilities and other civil society organizations may observe the dialogue in-person at in Room XXIII Palais des Nations. They can also follow all constructive dialogues on the UN Web TV webpage.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Mental Health, please visit ngomentalhealth.org. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org.

15th Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 61/106 of 13 December 2006. It came into force on 3 May 2008 upon its 20th ratification. Article 40 of the Convention stipulates that “The States Parties shall meet regularly in a Conference of States Parties (COSP) in order to consider any matter with regard to the implementation of the present Convention.”

The Fifteenth Session(in-person format) will take place on 14 to 16  June 2022 both virtually and onsite at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, during which an election of nine members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be conducted.

All meetings will be streamed live on UN Web TV at: https://media.un.org.

Overarching theme: Building disability-inclusive and participatory societies in the COVID context and beyond

Sub theme 1: Innovation and technology advancing disability rights
Sub theme 2: Economic empowerment and entrepreneurship of persons with disabilities
Sub theme 3: Participation of persons with disabilities in climate action, disaster risk reduction and resilience against natural disasters

Civil Society Participation

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@yahoo.com. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org.

Financing for Universal and Crisis-Responsive Social Protection and Decent Work: Proposals of 2021 UN Inter-Agency Working Group

Join the NGO Committee on Financing for Development on Tuesday, April 26, from 8 – 9:30am EST for an official side event of the 2022 ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum on Financing for Universal and Crisis-Responsive Social Protection and Decent Work: Proposals of 2021 UN Inter-Agency Working Group

Speakers:

  • H.E. Mr. Phillippe Kridelka, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations
  • Mr. Helmut Schwarzner, Senior Social Security Specialist for the Americas, Social Protection Department, ILO Geneva
  • Mr. David Stewart, Chief of Child Strategy and Social Protection, UNICEF
  • Dr. Santosh Mehrotra, Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn, Germany
  • Ms. Tikhala Itaye, Director, Global Movement Building, Women in Global Health

Moderator: Dr. Barry Herman, Member Advisory Board, Social Justice in Global Development

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsfuqqrjwiHtLVutntuRo0xgsa9K_vEKxP

Co-sponsors: Vivat International, Women First International Fund, Salesian Missions, International Labour Organization, World Vision, Social Justice in Global Development

Background: Social protection refers to assuring a basic income floor and access to basic healthcare throughout the life cycle. It should be provided universally to all people in need, but that is far from current practice. While decent jobs, including self-employment, are mainly in the private economy, meeting the qualifications for most jobs usually requires education and good health, which are primarily public service functions. Thus, programs to promote social protection and decent jobs entail adequate, effective, and fair national systems of taxation, complemented by international assistance, often in the form of technical assistance but also sometimes in aid-financed budget support, as for low-income countries.

The experience of the pandemic laid bare inadequate systems to deliver cash transfers to compensate for the economic costs of the crisis and inadequate public health systems to deliver vaccines, tests, and protective equipment, along with the very limited capacity, especially in developing countries, to maintain employment during the crisis-induced economic contraction. The pandemic experience requires us to think about preparing better “shock responsive” social protection and health systems and stronger counter-cyclical policies. Preparation, in turn, requires consideration of ways to mobilize the necessary domestic and international financial resources on an ongoing basis and with the capacity to meet the higher expenditure needs at times of crisis.

While the inter-agency report concluded with 21 separate proposals, speakers in the side event will be asked to discuss one or more of the proposals. There is no expectation that all 21 proposals would be covered, nor is that necessary. What is necessary is to bring the attention of the FfD Follow-up Forum for consideration by policymakers the work of the 16 cooperating agencies in the task force and the civil society, labor, employer, and youth stakeholders that were consulted in preparing the report.

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CoNGO Notes: The NGO Committee on Financing for Development is a Substantive Committee of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations.

Deepening Inequalities Exacerbated by the COVID-19 Pandemic and their Implications for the Realization of Human Rights

HRC48 Panel Discussion on Inequalities Exacerbated by COVID-19

Join us at the 48th Session of the Human Rights Council for the panel discussion on Deepening Inequalities Exacerbated by the COVID-19 Pandemic and their Implications for the Realization of Human Rights on 28 September, 2021.

We invite you to consult the Human Rights Council Extranet webpage to view the full program agenda.

The panel discussion will be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org.

World Bank CSO Monthly Call Briefing

Dear Colleagues in Civil Society,

Please save the date for the next CSO Monthly Call. It will take place on Thursday, July 29, 2021, from 10:00 to 11:00 AM EST.

Preliminary Agenda

Speakers:

  • Dilip Ratha, Head, Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), World Bank
  • Enrique Blanco Armas, Manager, International Development Association (IDA), World Bank

Objectives to discuss:

  1. The latest Migration and Development Brief, that highlights the resilience of remittances flows during the year 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. An update on the IDA20 replenishment process.

The CSO monthly call will take a break during the month of August and will resume in September.

Kind regards,

World Bank Civil Society Team

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 

Role of Culture and Community in Recognizing Diversity and Fostering Inclusion Among Older Immigrants and Other Underrepresented Populations

International Federation on Ageing presents: “The Role of Culture and Community in Recognizing Diversity and Fostering Inclusion Among Older Immigrants and Other Underrepresented Populations,” a Conversation with Mr. Kahir Lalji Provincial Director, Government Relations and Population Health, United Way of British Columbia

Immigration is a crucial factor in fostering growth and maintaining the economic and social health of countries around the world. Immigrants provide essential contributions to society and yet they often face disproportionate barriers to accessing social services and supports. For older’ immigrants, multiple factors (e.g., cultural differences, working conditions and health factors etc.) can affect their ability to actively engage in family and community activities.

The IFA is honored to invite Mr. Kahir Lalji, Provincial Director, Government Relations and Population Health, United Way of British Columbia with extensive background in non-profit leadership and community development, Mr. Lalji’s passion in working with underserved populations has driven his success in supporting community-based programs and services across the province.

Register here!

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-NY, please visit ngocoa-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Vienna, please visit ngoageingvie.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Geneva, please visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

World Hepatitis Day 2021 – Hepatitis Can’t Wait

World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on 28 July to raise awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes severe liver disease and hepatocellular cancer. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis can’t wait,” conveying the urgency of efforts needed to eliminate hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. With a person dying every 30 seconds from a hepatitis related illness – even in the current COVID-19 crisis – we can’t wait to act on viral hepatitis.

To mark the day, WHO is hosting a Global talk show providing a platform for global, regional and national leaders, policy makers, communities and other stakeholders to discuss opportunities for accelerating the hepatitis response to achieve elimination by 2030. Contributions and stories from countries from different WHO regions will be showcased at the event. More information on speakers and registration/connectivity information will be made available shortly here: who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/07/28/default-calendar/world-hepatitis-day-2021

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, please visit ngocommitteerarediseases.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. 

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