The International conference on Social Health Protection in Developing countries organised on 7 May 2008 at the initiative of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, brought together 55 States (with 33 Ministers), 17 international and regional organisations and some NGOs. Action for Global Health was represented by its two French partners (Médecins du Monde and Avocats pour LA SANTE dans le Monde/ Global Health Advocates).

The International conference on Social Health Protection in Developing countries organised on 7 May 2008 at the initiative of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, brought together 55 States (with 33 Ministers), 17 international and regional organisations and some NGOs. The conference was part of the French/German initiative “Providing for Health” whose principal objective is to strengthen health systems by putting appropriate social health protection mechanisms in place with a view to achieve universal coverage.

This international conference had four goals:

1) consolidating consensus on the importance of investing in health to support shared growth and development and to achieve the Millennium goals adopted by the international community in 2000;
2) capitalising on recent experience to clarify the conditions for expanding health insurance;
3) mobilising stable, reliable and durable methods of financing, over and above the existing schemes, in order to increase leverage and systematically implement health insurance mechanisms;
4) promoting new partnerships among players who devote their efforts to capacity-building in health systems, particularly by mobilising vertical funds..