Massive cuts in public funding are threatening the human right to health and placing the global system under enormous pressure. To close these funding gaps, governments are relying increasingly and uncritically on the involvement of private actors, with far-reaching consequences for access to medicines and political influence.
Global health faces a profound structural crisis as public funding cuts and rising inequalities threaten the human right to health, leaving 4.5 billion people without basic services. Many now see an opportunity to bring in private actors to close the funding gap, with little critical scrutiny. Against this backdrop, Brot für die Welt, Global Policy Forum Europe and Misereor have outlined six theses on the role of private actors in global health, offering clear, actionable recommendations for the German government.
This briefing assesses the outcomes of the 2026 UN Financing for Development Forum, examining whether it delivered meaningful progress on implementing the Sevilla commitments or reflected broader paralysis in global economic governance. It finds that the forum largely failed to advance implementation, with weak outcomes, misplaced priorities in the agenda, and growing divergence among Member States limiting progress.
New findings from recent UN and OECD reports
This month, the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) almost simultaneously released reports on development finance. The OECD’s data on official development assistance (ODA) for 2025 revealed a dramatic 23.1 percent decline in a single year – the largest drop the world has ever seen.
