Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Volume 91, Number 7, July 2013, 465-544
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/7/en/index.html

Placing populations’ health at the heart of the post-2015 agenda
Carole Presern ^a & for the Post-2015 Working Group of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
a. Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, World Health Organization, 20 Rue Appia 27, Geneva 1211, Switzerland.
Correspondence to Andres de Francisco (e-mail: defranciscoa@who.int)
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2013;91:467-467A. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.13.125146
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/7/13-125146/en/index.html

Excerpt
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have shaped global health and development priorities and have catalysed major improvements in women’s and children’s health. The post-2015 development agenda, currently under debate, must capitalize on these achievements. To this end, in 2012 the United Nations System Task Team on the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda proposed a framework with four core dimensions: inclusive economic development, environmental sustainability, inclusive social development and peace and security.¹ Based on this framework, the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has proposed 12 goals and 54 targets as part of a transformative, people-centred agenda for development. We wish to reinforce the direction of this work by stressing the need to put populations’ health at the heart of the post-2015 agenda. This can be accomplished by moving health and development efforts beyond sectoral silos and focusing on the world’s most disadvantaged groups.¹

Equity resonates throughout current discussions and consensus towards prioritizing the most disadvantaged members of society is emerging. We therefore propose a focus on the poorest populations in every country, with special attention to women of reproductive age, children and adolescents. These groups are especially vulnerable in several domains, yet they are also vital “human capital” for any society wishing to progress in the four dimensions of sustainable development.

In the economic sphere, women are major players. Over 500 million women in the world have joined the workforce in the past 30 years thanks to strides in female education, access to contraception and gender equity.² Lower fertility rates resulting from access to contraception have reduced pressure on the environment. In fact, lower fertility rates and better child survival explain from 30 to 50% of south-eastern Asia’s dramatic economic growth between 1965 and 1990.³ Children and adolescents, on the other hand, are tomorrow’s workforce. Those who are healthy will grow up to be more productive citizens and will have higher lifetime earning potential than those who are not…