Global Health Architecture Short-Term Action Group, 2026-2027
The Global Mental Health Action Network is bringing together a variety of international mental health organisations, national NGOs and advocates to support the full integration of mental health into the reform of the Global Health Architecture, from the civil society consultations this autumn to the World Health Assembly in May 2027.
Background and Our Focus
The Global Health Architecture is the network of global health institutions that shapes how the world responds to health needs. It includes the World Health Organisation and major health financing and coordinating agencies, such as the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and Malaria, UNAIDS, UNITAID and GAVI, and the discussions run alongside discussions about the role of regional health organisations, e.g. Africa CDC, and the health units of development banks. Its reform affects the future of which organisations coordinate international and/or regional policies and plans on mental health, where funding for mental health is coordinated and distributed, and what guidance and regulations are adhered to.
On 22 May 2026, the 79th World Health Assembly adopted the proposal for a joint, inclusive, transparent and time-bound process, hosted by WHO, to support reforms of the global health architecture. A 25-member Taskforce, comprising 14 Member State representatives and 11 non-Member State representatives, is now working across three workstreams on functions, mandates & capacities; coordination & decision-making; and financing. Its interim report is to be produced by end of November 2026 and goes to Member States at the Executive Board, and the final report and implementation roadmap go to the 80th World Health Assembly in May 2027.
In 2025, mental health was fully integrated into the Political Declaration of a UN High-Level Meeting for the first time, after years of collective advocacy by our community. But the architecture now being redesigned will decide whether these commitments are funded, coordinated and delivered. The reform is rightly moving away from disease-specific silos towards an integrated, health systems approach, and yet leaving mental health to sit implicitly within the language of Primary Healthcare or Universal Health Coverage risks its confusion, dilution or neglect when it comes to implementation. A Global Health Architecture built on functions, mandates, accountability structures and financing that ignore current and future patterns of illness and disability cannot be fit for the future.
Our members see what is at stake at country level. So, our STAG supports the call for a future Global Health Architecture that delivers good physical and mental health for all through an integrated health systems approach, with investment in local leadership and ownership, and with people with lived experience, young people and civil society engaged as architects of the new system rather than as information sources.
Our Position: A Holistic Approach to Health
We believe the GHA must evolve to reflect the reality of modern health burdens. While communicable diseases remain a challenge, and diseases of epidemic potential pose a real risk, there has been a massive rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental ill health. There is a growing recognition of the comorbidity between physical and mental health. Young people are experiencing record levels of mental ill health: supporting them is essential to our present and future. In health emergencies, including pandemics, mental health is a key concern for affected populations and the health workers supporting them. And technology is rapidly changing how people address their mental health needs.
What’s happening elsewhere:
The WHO-hosted Task Force is one of several reform processes running at once. These include intergovernmental processes led by the WHO and multilateral banks; regional approaches (EU, African Union, and the US "America First" strategy); and initiatives by other international actors (Lusaka Agenda, Wellcome Trust, Accra Reset, Gavi Leap), with evidence and civil society perspectives coming through the MOPAN and HEAR CSO studies. The Task Force has scheduled consultations with civil society, community-based organisations and youth in Sep/Oct, Dec/Jan, Mar and Apr, and HEAR CSO has been building a civil society vision for this moment, which makes it an important route for our members to engage.
Access our Briefs
Mental Health in the Global Health Architecture
September 2026
Our call to the Joint Task Force, drawing on what members in Jamaica, Mexico and Nigeria report, with recommendations on aligning functions and mandates, improving governance and accountability, and financing future health needs.
The Future of Global Health Architecture
February 2026
What the reform is, why it matters for mental health and what each of us can do, with summaries in French and Spanish and a guide to responding to HEAR CSO surveys.
UnitedGMH: Mental Health in the Global Health Architecture (video and explainer)
The next 2 years will shape the future of health. We cannot achieve health for all if we continue to treat mental health as an afterthought.
Recommended links:
🔸 WHO: Reform of the global health architecture and the UN80 Initiative (A79/24)
🔸 Joint Task Force workplan, timeline and workstreams (Member State consultation, 28 September 2026)
🔸 HEAR CSO: Health Architecture Reimagined Civil Society Organizations
🔸 ISGlobal: A living map of global health reform initiatives
🔸 UnitedGMH: Mental Health in the Global Health Architecture
If you are attending Regional Committees, the Executive Board or the World Health Assembly, use our briefs to speak with your Member State delegation, as Member States will decide what these organisations focus on in the future.
Global Mental Health Action Network members can participate in this strategic advocacy group by engaging with the Network and the Secretariat on Circle and via email at admin@gmhan.org.