The Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the UN with the Permanent Missions of Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland, Japan, Lebanon, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Portugal, State of Qatar, and Sweden; World Health Organization, International Association of Applied Psychology, American Psychological Association; and United African Congress

This side event aligns with the aim of the HLPF 2021 on global sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by addressing challenges and solutions of achieving physical and mental health equity to reach this aim. It emphasizes the interrelationship between two goals under review, namely, SDG 3, to ensure healthy lives and well-being, and SDG 10, to reduce inequality within and between nations, while ackowledging that health equity is vital to achieving all the SDGs. Holistic health equity is both a driver and an outcome of sustainable, inclusive progress, as nations of the world advance to build back better in the COVID-19 recovery period. Considerable research shows that health inequities are prevalent globally and have been exacerbated in the context of COVID-19 (World Health Organization, 2020). Marginalized and at-risk populations, such as racial and ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, women and girls, older persons, persons with disabilities and compromising health conditions, and those living in poverty or conflict, are disproportionately vulnerable to experiencing adverse social determinants of health which cause physical and mental health disparities, such as limited access to essential healthcare, food, education, and employment (Lancet Global Health).

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