Post-2015 Global Development Agenda Policy Brief

Health Must Remain a Top Priority

We believe the Post-2015 Development Agenda must accelerate progress on unmet MDGs and create a tangible, bold vision for achieving future health progress. It should have a strong emphasis on country ownership and empowering locals to take greater control over their own development. 

In the last decade, the world has made tremendous progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight internationally agreed-upon goals with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. With the MDGs set to expire next year, the United Nation’s Post-2015 Development Agenda provides a unique opportunity to review development gains, become more inclusive of communities, address global attention on emerging health threats and reassess current goals that have not reached their targets. 

For more than forty years, MSH has stood by the principles of supporting effective local leaders and local institutions to create lasting health impact. Healthy people and communities contribute to economic vitality and political stability. 

MSH is working on the U.S. and global level to ensure health remains a key component of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. We are partnering with like-minded global health and advocacy organizations (i.e. the Global Health Council) to advocate for a strong U.S. government position on health in the Post-2015 framework.

In addition, MSH advocates for the inclusion of health at the global level. MSH has been working at the country level through our local country offices, governments and partners globally to influence the UN decision-making process. MSH coordinates Health for All Post-2015, a global campaign of civil society organizations advocating for UHC in the post-2015, agenda. It comprises over 40 organizations from approximately 20 countries, engaging with UN missions and other partners to advance a principled approach to UHC and secure its place in the SDG framework. MSH also participates in Open Working Group and U.N. General Assembly activities.