Health in the post-2015 UN development agenda

As the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals approaches, there is wide debate as to what development goals the global community should set next. The United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon has appointed a High-level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015. The Panel will deliver a report to the 2013 September General Assembly.

In support of this process, the United Nations Development Group is leading efforts to catalyse a “global conversation” on the post-2015 agenda through a series of global thematic consultations and more than 50 national consultations.

The Governments of Sweden and Botswana, UNICEF and WHO co-convene the health thematic consultation.

Global consultation on health

The UN’s global consultation on health will take place between October 2012 and February 2013. It will include a web-based consultation; the development of a series of background papers (both on lessons learned from the current MDGs as well as future directions); and a series of consultative meetings with Member States, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector partners and academic and research institutions.

The process will culminate in a high-level meeting on March 5-6 in Botswana, involving governments, NGO coalitions, key UN partners and members of the UNSG’s High-Level Panel. It will seek to incorporate ideas and lessons from other regional and country consultations, thereby building a powerful consensus around key issues and recommendations on health to feed into the inter-governmental process that will start later in 2013.

Informal Member State consultation

An informal Member State Consultation on Health in the Post 2015 Development Agenda, was held in the WHO Executive Board Room in Geneva on December 14, 2012. The meeting’s discussions focused on the first four of the five questions that are being used to guide the health thematic consultation. This report provides a summary of the interventions made by the Member State representatives

WHO papers

Related links

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

For more information on the Global Consultation on Health

E-mail: post2015health@who.int