What is the next step for the UN Sustainable Development goals?
Later this month, the UN will be meeting to evaluate and replace the Millennium Development Goals. Some are stating that the development goals already in place by the UN are highly unethical because of it’s focus on people under the age of 70. If a country spends aid on something that doesn’t help to raise its score to meet it’s goal in regards to non-communicable diseases, there could be harsh repercussions.
The consequences could be anywhere from not receiving funding for other projects in the future, to having the international community step in and take over parts of their government– causing the country to have less autonomy when it comes to their health care system. Since these goals are not inclusive, it’s hard for a country to plug these goals into the needs for their population. Every country is different as is every population. What might work in one part of the world won’t necessarily work in another. Holding every country to the same standard might seem fair on paper, but is not practical when applied to the real world.
What should they be focusing on if these UN goals aren’t as inclusive as they should be?
RGH suggests that the UN and the international community focus on what will protect the future of the people in every country, that is, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their health system and networking the health surveillance information systems globally. Second, each country would need to develop the systems necessary to take care of their populations’ needs and growth. Population growth is often overlooked. Depending on the country and its population, focusing on infant mortality could be a great investment for a country. However, every age group has its special health needs and the government must invest on those health programs that will improve the quality and quantity of life of all its citizens, starting with those most vulnerable, the poor, children below five and the elderly. As each one of these age-specific issues are dealt with by the country and their systems, the population’s challenges will change. When maternal and infant mortality decreases, people’s lifespans will increase causing a greater need for elder care which is not addressed in the current goals.
From there, we will need to work efficiently to strengthen systems that ensure these goals are sustainable and that we are measuring and tracking the goals we set for ourselves.
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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“Old and wise” by Ferdinand Reus – originally posted to Flickr as Old and wise. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.
