A Guide: Leveraging Multi-Level Governance Approaches to Promote Health Equity

UN-Habitat works in over 90 countries to promote transformative change in cities and human settlements through knowledge, policy advice, technical assistance, and collaborative action. UN-Habitat has developed this Guide to provide knowledge and resources on the multi-level governance strategies and tools that government at all levels (national, regional and local) can utilize for emergency health preparedness and the achievement of health equity.

This can be done by incorporating a ‘health lens’ in urban development drawing lessons from the current COVID-19 pandemic to support vulnerable groups, understand health threats, map epidemics and implement evidence-based public health interventions through use of data and digital technologies. These objectives resonate with the SDGs’ overarching principle of leaving no one and no place behind and its moral imperative of social justice (equal distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society).