Uniting for Health: When Commitments Translated Into Action Make A Difference

States and other stakeholders of the Global Compact on Refugees gathered on 25 March 2025 in Geneva to further advance efforts towards equitable, sustainable, and inclusive health systems for refugees and host communities. The Round Table: Advancing Multi-stakeholder Pledges on National Health System Inclusion and Fostering Mental Health and Psychosocial Wellbeing (MHPSS) discussed the concrete progress made under the two transformative Multi-stakeholder Pledges launched during the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) 2023.

Held both in-person and virtually, the round table convened over 55 participants from 20 States as well as representatives from the European Union (EU) and was co-hosted by UNHCR’s Division of Resilience and Solutions and the World Health Organization (WHO).

This timely gathering reinforced a shared global commitment to translate health pledges made at the second GRF in 2023 into impactful and, in many instances, life-saving action for refugees and their host communities.

Health inclusion in practice: From commitment to action

The round table reflected on the significant progress made since the Forum in 2023, resulting in a record 240 pledges to date towards the two Multi-stakeholder Pledges, including 123 on advancing inclusion in national health systems, 88 on fostering mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and 29 covering both areas, more than double the pledges received in this area in the previous Forum in 2019.

These commitments, made by 184 entities including 48 states and 44 international organizations, underscore a growing consensus that refugee health is a global responsibility and a catalyst for development, including for host communities. Similarly, addressing the mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugees is an enabler to achieving a wide range of outcomes in humanitarian and development settings.

At the round table, national examples illustrated the transformative impact of commitments to advance inclusion. In Colombia, the number of refugees and migrants with access to health insurance has soared from 6,000 in 2017 to over 1.5 million today. This remarkable progress underscores the country's commitment to include refugees into its national health system.

Meanwhile, Kenya has adjusted its laws to enable the full inclusion of refugees in its national health insurance scheme and started enrolment, ensuring they receive the same level of care as host communities. This advancement is part of Kenya's pledge made at the GRF 2023 to provide equitable, sustainable and accessible quality health care to refugees and host communities and is interlinked with the inclusion of refugees into the country's socioeconomic fabric, transforming refugee camps into integrated settlements under the Shirika Plan. These milestones reflect the pledge’s core aim: strengthening national systems to provide equitable, affordable, and quality care for all.

"These positive developments and achievements would not have been possible without a strong national ownership and the support received from donors; it is, however, essential to continue translating international solidarity into practice to secure sustainable financing for inclusive health responses", UNHCR’s Director for Resilience and Solutions, Sajjad Malik, said.

Mental health: Centre stage at last

The round table was also a strong testimony that mental health and psychosocial wellbeing evolved from an insufficiently addressed issue to a central element of humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding agendas. As the world grapples with protracted displacement and crises, integrating mental health and psychosocial support into national systems and community structures has become not only a moral obligation but also a necessity to achieve self-reliance and social cohesion.

During the discussions, representatives from Germany and the Netherlands, amongst others, made compelling, coordinated pleas for mental health and psychosocial support to be integrated across sectors, including health, education, and protection. Their message resonated with refugee-hosting countries which emphasized the need to address this challenge that too often remains unaddressed, by facilitating policy changes to facilitate large-scale integration of refugees into strengthened mental healthcare services.

Participants commended host communities for continuing to welcome refugees and demonstrate empathy for their plight, even though they often grapple with their own health issues and face challenges with mental health and psychosocial support. They also emphasized that humanitarian interventions linked with development support can significantly strengthen national health systems and stressed the importance of collaborating with governments to develop effective methods to tackle mental health problems.

In addition, the EU also reaffirmed its commitment to mental health and psychosocial support, considering this an integral part of the humanitarian response, including for forced displacement. This collective effort underscores the critical role of mental health and psychosocial support in fostering resilience and well-being among refugees and host communities alike.

Collaboration and innovation at the heart

A key outcome of the round table was the reaffirmation that sustainable refugee health inclusion demands a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and needs to be linked to wider efforts promoting refugee self-reliance. Discussions highlighted transformative partnerships between UN agencies, civil society, and refugee-led organizations.

Innovations included capacity building of non-specialists in Peru to deliver scalable psychological interventions and legal reforms in Colombia, Kenya, and Iraq that enable full inclusion in national health systems.

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Surge Mechanism, funded by the Netherlands, is a great example of how sending mental health experts for short-term deployments can help different sectors work together better. This approach also helps shift from emergency mental health responses to creating long-term, sustainable national systems., funded by the Netherlands, is a great example of how sending mental health experts for short-term deployments can help different sectors work together better. This approach also helps shift from emergency mental health responses to creating long-term, sustainable national systems.

Despite impressive progress and good practices shared, the round table also acknowledged critical challenges. These include constrained financing for refugee-hosting countries, limited response capacity, strained health systems and data gaps that impede effective service delivery. Sustained donor support, adapted health system strengthening, inclusive capacity development across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and data-driven approaches were identified as urgent priorities for the path ahead.

Path forward: Pledges to policies to sustainable solutions

The outcomes of this round table will directly inform preparations for the High-Level Officials Meeting in December 2025 and shape global health and refugee inclusion policies for years to come. By anchoring discussions in real-world successes and shared challenges, the meeting illustrated the shift from intent to implementation.

This gathering not only reaffirmed governments’ commitment and political will but also illustrated the profound human impact of inclusive policies. As WHO’s Guillaume Simonian stated: "In these unprecedented times and troubled waters, the Global Compact on Refugees is a lighthouse to follow."

Through pledges, meaningful support and collaborative actions like those highlighted, lifelines can be extended so all people, regardless of status, can access the care they need.