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Health4Life Fund

Health4Life Fund (the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund to Catalyze Country Action for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health) has been established to galvanize domestic financing and scale up country action for the prevention and control of NCDs and for improving mental health.

The Fund supports governments, the UN development system and other partners to work together towards common NCD and mental health results, in a way that responds to the global, regional and country level commitments on NCDs and mental health.

The Fund was established by UNDP, UNICEF and WHO – three members of the NCD Task Force. The Fund is based on established financing-for-development and aid- & development-effectiveness principles.

The 2025 political declaration on NCDs and mental health called upon ‘UN agencies, regional and intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, to support Member States through catalytic development assistance, including through the Task Force and the Health4Life Fund’.

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24 May 2021

Memorandum of Understanding
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In 2025, WHO published its first ever strategy on multi-partner trust funds (MPTFs) and joint programs (collectively known as inter-agency pooled funds). WHO currently hosts three MPTFs, including the Health4Life Fund.

Inter-agency pooled funds provide significant opportunities for WHO to work with partners by maximizing efficiencies and impact on health and development. MPTFs and Joint Programs are especially important for driving forward multisectoral action, which is critical in reaching many of the targets of the health SDGs. Inter-agency pooled funds are an important part of the UN reform process, improving collaboration and reducing programmatic fragmentation across humanitarian, peace and security, and sustainable development.

2 March 2025

Multi-partner Trust Funds and Joint Programs
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Steering Committee

Health4Life Fund is governed by a Steering Committee consisting of UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office  and the governments of Kenya, Thailand and Uruguay. The Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office is an ex-officio member of the Steering Committee, serving as the administrative interface between investors and the Steering Committee. The NCD Alliance and United for Global Mental Health represent civil society on the Steering Committee. Day-to-day activities are managed by the Health4Life Fund Secretariat and senior staff from UNDP, UNICEF and WHO.

 

News

Member States updated on progress

Mar 10, 2026, 09:17 by User Not Found

Twenty-three Member States received an update on the United Nations Health4Life Fund on 28 April 2023. The Fund spearheaded by WHO, UNDP and UNICEF and the governments of Kenya, Thailand and Uruguay was established in 2021 to catalyse action on NCDs and mental health. 

Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General emphasized WHO’s high-level political commitment to pooled funding mechanisms, stressing the importance of the Health4Life Fund to accelerate country action.

Aylward highlighted the value of the UN working together on funds such as the Health4Life Fund, ‘When the entire UN system works together, we have much greater impact, especially when we do that behind the leadership of the countries that we're here to serve’. Aylward pointed out that the Fund needed to be fully resourced if it was to ‘really make a dent in the completely unacceptable burden of NCDs and mental health’.

Stew Simonson, Director of WHO’s New York office, described the importance of an agile, cohesive and responsive UN system to drive the 2030 Agenda. Simonson commented that ‘making WHO fit for purpose in order to achieve and deliver on the SDGs is what drives all of us at WHO.’ Simonson added, ‘Health4Life Fund provides a meaningful opportunity to contribute to UN reform, not only in words, but in actions’.

Member States heard from Jennifer Topping, Executive Coordinator in the Multi Partner Trust Fund Office in New York that is the administrative agent for all UN multi-partners trust funds, including the Health4Life Fund.  Topping explained that UN trust funds provide ‘a way of promoting coherence to deliver on common objectives … for a more effective and efficient use of resources, better transparency and accountability, and an ability to see overlaps and [avoid] duplication’.

Topping elaborated on the key success factors for these funds, highlighting the need for strong leadership, a clear theory of change with a sharp focus on the expected results and outcomes, a strong fund secretariat, and full capitalization.

WHO, UNDP and UNICEF shared progress on the Health4Life Fund, describing how the Fund supports a transformative approach to global health financing – one that truly centres on the needs of the Global South. The Health4Life Fund Secretariat outlined a set of exciting new partnerships, the Fund’s resource mobilization strategy, and Fund’s grant making approach.

Kenya and Uruguay set out their commitment as champions and global advocates, with Peace Mutama, Health Attaché, with the Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN in Geneva saying, ‘We welcome the approach taken to establish this fund as a catalytic [instrument] to increase domestic resources’, while Soledad Martinez, Minister Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of Uruguay, invited Member States to join an informal Health4Life Fund lunch that they are hosting with Kenya during the World Health Assembly.