BACKGROUND :

Multi-stakeholder engagement and accountability: how can the HLM political declaration and Global Action Plan accelerate progress towards SDG3 for adolescents? There are many NCD, mental health and adolescent health related commitments that have been made at the global level and that national governments have committed to take forward. These include, along with SDG 3.4, the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health 2016-2030 and the commitments made within the High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage in September 2019. However, there is an ‘implementation gap’ in many countries with commitments and strategies agreed to in New York not translating to the national and local levels. Civil society and other stakeholders, including international agencies, young leaders, the media and the private sector, have a crucial role in holding governments to account through raising awareness of the commitments made at the national level and tracking progress towards them on a regular basis. This side event will bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss how to improve accountability for the wide range of commitments around adolescent health to ensure that these targets translate to real change for young people.