Global Leaders Launch Health Works Coalition to Boost Health Systems by 2030

This global alliance aims to mobilize domestic and international investments, catalyze health system reform, and strengthen resilience across the world’s most vulnerable healthcare systems.

In a groundbreaking move to redefine health systems as engines of both public well-being and economic growth, the World Bank Group, the Government of Japan, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have officially launched the Health Works Leaders Coalition. This global alliance aims to mobilize domestic and international investments, catalyze health system reform, and strengthen resilience across the world's most vulnerable healthcare systems.

Launched during the 2025 World Bank Group Annual Meetings, the Coalition brings together health and finance ministers, philanthropic organizations, business leaders, global health agencies, and civil society representatives with the shared goal of delivering quality, affordable health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030.

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What Is the Health Works Leaders Coalition?

The Health Works Leaders Coalition is a strategic leadership and advocacy platform – not a funding mechanism – designed to align global and national efforts behind bold, high-impact, country-led health reforms. It forms a core pillar of Health Works, a broader initiative spearheaded by the World Bank and partners to transform healthcare into a catalyst for inclusive growth, job creation, and improved national resilience.

At the inaugural meeting, the Coalition announced the participation of 21 countries that will develop National Health Compacts — tailored, government-led agreements outlining reform priorities, investment needs, accountability mechanisms, and strategies to expand universal access to healthcare.

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Health Compacts: Bold National Reforms in Motion

The first wave of Health Compacts includes countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific — each committing to ambitious healthcare reforms. The formal launch of the compacts is scheduled for the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) High-Level Forum in Tokyo, December 2025.

Key examples of reform priorities include:

• Indonesia: Expanding free health checkups and health insurance coverage

• Mexico: Rolling out a pharmaceutical industry strategy expected to create 60,000 jobs via private sector engagement

• Nigeria and Ethiopia: Scaling primary healthcare access in rural areas

• India and Bangladesh: Investing in digital health platforms and supply chain reforms

These compacts represent a shared commitment to reducing out-of-pocket spending, ensuring financial risk protection, and building institutional capacity for resilient health financing.

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UHC Knowledge Hub: Supporting Capacity Through South-South Learning

Alongside the Coalition, Japan announced the UHC Knowledge Hub, a new capacity-building platform hosted in Tokyo. This initiative will support national policymakers from developing countries through a combination of:

• Technical training

• Peer-to-peer learning

• Policy exchange

• Case study analysis

The first group of countries to join the UHC Knowledge Hub includes: Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

"Strengthening health systems in developing countries depends on cultivating health financing expertise within both health and finance ministries," said Atsushi Mimura, Japan's Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs. "Japan's experience in building a universal health system will guide institutional reform in partner countries."

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Shared Vision: Health as a Development Imperative

Global health and development leaders agree that investment in health is not only a moral imperative, but an economic one.

"Sharp cuts in overseas aid are impacting health services in many nations," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO. "But countries are rising to the challenge by assuming greater ownership over their systems. We must support them to mobilize domestic resources and protect the poorest from financial hardship."

World Bank President Ajay Banga echoed this sentiment, stressing that health system investments are as much about economic transformation as public service delivery.

"No single institution or philanthropist can deliver health for 1.5 billion people alone," Banga said. "But with aligned purpose and shared effort, we can deliver real results — improving health, creating jobs, strengthening economies, and protecting people from shocks."

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Participating Members and Countries

The Health Works Leaders Coalition includes representatives from governments, NGOs, foundations, and multilateral agencies. Founding members include:

• Egypt

• Ethiopia

• GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance

• Indonesia

• Kenya

• Nigeria

• Philippines

• Seed Global Health

• Sierra Leone

• Saint Lucia

• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

• The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

• United Kingdom

• WACI Health

• Wellcome Trust

Countries Developing National Health Compacts: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Zambia

First UHC Knowledge Hub Cohort: Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines

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Toward Universal Health Coverage by 2030

The Health Works Leaders Coalition represents a new model of health governance — one that views health system strengthening not just as a humanitarian goal, but as a central driver of long-term prosperity.

Through coordinated leadership, country-led planning, strategic reform, and shared accountability, the Coalition offers a pathway to equitable, affordable, and resilient healthcare — even in the face of budget constraints and global crises.

With political will, financial innovation, and inclusive leadership, the 2030 target of reaching 1.5 billion people with quality healthcare is not only possible — it is within reach.