Approach for Reviewing National Health Programmes to Leave No One Behind: Technical Handbook

“Leave no one behind” is a core principle of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Equity, human rights and gender equality are central to all the goals, while SDG 3 calls for universal health coverage and health and well-being for all at all ages. To realize this inclusive vision, we have to ensure that everyone makes it on to the bus of the SDGs – by using new approaches and tools that help us identify, and then address, health inequity.

The eight-step Innov8 review is undertaken in each country by a multidisciplinary national team. It identifies who is being missed by health programmes, the barriers they face and the reasons those barriers exist – including the social determinants of health. It recommends the monitoring activity, partnerships and coordinated intersectoral action needed to ensure that health programmes reach everyone, especially those who have been missed and overlooked in the past.