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The World Conference aimed: 

• to identify the basic principles, methods and strategies for developing national action plans to address social determinants of health to reduce health inequities;

• to strengthen political commitment by Member States to develop and implement such national action plans, as well as the provisions of resolution WHA62.14;

• to share experiences, challenges and technical knowledge on how to address social determinants of health and construct national plans to reduce health inequities, considering the need for strengthening of governance arrangements, and learning from different contexts. 

The World Conference was a high-level ministerial event that brought together over 1000 participants, including delegates from over 125 Member States, representatives from other organizations in the United Nations system and civil society, and technical experts. In addition, more than 19 000 people followed the event through webcast.

The five themes of the World Conference were:

1. Governance to tackle the root causes of health inequities: implementing action on social determinants of health;

2. Promoting participation: community leadership for action on social determinants;

3. The role of the health sector, including public health programmes, in reducing health inequities;

4. Global action on social determinants: aligning priorities and stakeholders;

5. Monitoring progress: measurement and analysis to inform policies and build accountability on social determinants.