United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officially launched the Sustainable Health Procurement Guidance Note on World Environment Day 2020.

As the world is currently facing one of the most daunting pandemics in history, procurement of medical products such as medical masks and gloves, ventilators, and respirators has increased drastically. The global health sector’s unified concern today is to prevent and provide a cure for COVID-19. Yet it is an indisputable fact that the delivery of prevention and treatment services can inadvertently contribute to major human and environmental health problems.

Health systems generate significant environmental impacts both up and downstream. These range from service delivery, to the natural resources and products health systems procure and consume, to the waste they generate. This in turn contributes to climate change, chemical contamination, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, air and water pollution.

In this regard, the Sustainable Health Procurement Guidance Note has come out at a very important time. The Guidance Note aims to build a better and resilient global health system and improve the access to quality health products through capacity building on environmental, social and ethical considerations and by using documented practices of market-shaping capabilities for transformation through decoupling activities.

“To have an impact on planetary health requires bold vision, direction, leadership and actions on the ground. Every health commodity procurement decision made by an organization can have an impact on public health, environment, economy and society. Guiding health procurement decisions towards more sustainable consumption and production practices (SDG 12) can drive markets towards innovation and sustainability, thereby enabling the transition towards a greener economy, resilient health sector, healthier people and planet,” said Agi Veres, Deputy Regional Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS.

One of the key concepts introduced in the guidance note is the need to decouple the health sector from economic activity, which means that there is need to deliver critical health services, grow the economy, while producing less waste, using less resources and reducing the negative impacts on environment and human health. In this regard, the guidance note introduces a variety of health programme approaches, procurement strategies, case studies and best practices to build resilience through the application of different techniques to help transition the market from overconsumption, waste and ecological harm.

The Sustainable Health in Procurement Project (SHiPP), jointly implemented by UNDP and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) and funded by the Government of Sweden through Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), enabled the development of this guidance note.