What would you do if there was only 6 months left to save the world?
According to Professor Jeffrey Sachs, we might not have that long to save the world. No, we are not talking about a meteor hitting earth or a nuclear holocaust, but actually the impact of infectious diseases–which is a side effect of a poor health care system in most of the world.
There are several key meetings that are coming up that could change the way our world works. Professor Sachs spoke with The Independent and said that these upcoming conferences are “our generation’s best chance to get on track.”
Why are these conferences such a big deal?
At each one of these upcoming conferences, the international community will be speaking about sustainable development goals and improvements to the quality of life on a global level by eradicating extreme poverty. These conferences are: Financing For Development meeting in Addis Ababa, The United Nations Summit in New York and the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.
These three conferences will shift the direction of the international community and will help to determine if the actions taken in the last 15 years have been working.
It’s not just having a six month deadline, we need to start thinking that every month we need to save the world. Each month, we need to make decisions that get us closer and closer to what our goals are, making sure that our actions are moving the needle and enabling us to improve towards those goals that will advance the world.
What would RGH do after these conferences?
It is important to follow through after these global conferences. There are conferences held and declarations signed almost every year. It is important to learn from the past and review what happened after these meetings. A lot more could have been done in the last 15 years in regards to the development goals that were enacted by the UN assembly in 2000. Sadly, it took them 5 years to get most the countries on board and currently there are countries that have not received the support needed to get them close to attaining the goals set for them 15 years ago.
The world has to be saved every month. At RGH, we help our clients to plan the development of their health system to meet global goals, measure the work they are doing, and then make sure what they are doing is working; not to make excuses as to why these goals are not met. We can make excuses or we can make things work. You can’t do both.
WWRGHD is a new blog series from RGH where we look at events in the news and share our take on what could be done, or done differently, to improve universal coverage to healthcare in the United States and around the world.
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