WHO is proud to partner with Luxembourg, a strong supporter of global health, that contributes more than 15% of its official development assistance to the health sector. Since 2009, Luxembourg has provided 1% of its gross national income to development assistance, one of the few countries that exceeds the United Nations target of 0.7%.
WHO and Luxembourg work together in key health areas including universal health coverage; reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health; health emergencies; polio eradication; and neglected tropical diseases. Since 2017, Luxembourg has co-chaired the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, a partnership hosted by WHO.
Luxembourg’s new General Development Cooperation Strategy: The Road to 2030 highlights health as a key area for eradicating poverty. Luxembourg has pledged to improve access to safe and affordable health care with stronger domestic health systems, fight the spread of communicable diseases with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS, and prioritize maternal and child health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The new strategy also leverages Luxembourg’s financial expertise to create innovative mechanisms to reach health goals. The country is a chartering member of Luxflag and the Agricultural Business Capital Fund, initiatives that promote responsible investment to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Luxembourg is also one of the eight members of WHO’s Small Countries Initiative, a knowledge sharing platform in the WHO European region to improve the health and well-being of populations.
Through its participation in WHO’s governance and leadership in innovative initiatives like the Universal Health Coverage Partnership, Luxembourg helps ensure that WHO has the resources to create healthier lives for all people. Over the next five years, alignment between WHO and partners like Luxembourg will aim to provide a billion more people with universal health coverage, to better protect a billion people from health emergencies and ensure a further billion people with better health and well-being. This “Triple Billion target” is the cornerstone of the WHO Investment Case, which calls for an increase of innovative funding.
