6 March 2013: The Global Thematic Consultation on Health in the Post-2015 Agenda has culminated with a High-level Dialogue in Gaborone, Botswana, on 5-6 March 2013. The high-level meeting, which was organized by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) with the support of the Governments of Botswana and Sweden, discussed advancing health priorities in the post-2015 agenda.

Opening the meeting, President of Botswana Seretse Khama Ian Kham called for participants to develop clearly articulated, visible goals that reflect the linkages between development and health, noting that health is critical for sustainable development. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), recommended that participants formulate a bold, transformative health vision and goals. He said health goals and indicators can support progress in other areas, such as equity, gender equality and human rights. He noted opportunities to leverage community activism, the private sector, innovation and technology to advance the future global health agenda.

During the meeting, which brought together approximately 50 Member States, members of the UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (HLP), health ministers, civil society, academic institutions and the private sector, participants discussed a draft report on health in the post-2015 agenda, which includes recommendations for framing the future agenda for health. The report calls for placing health at the center of the post-2015 agenda to protect environmental sustainability and advance economic development, human well-being, equity and social justice. The report was prepared based on comments submitted to the online consultations on health, which took place online on the World We Want 2015 platform, as well as on 13 face-to-face consultations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe between November 2012 and January 2013.

Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, said the online consultations had resulted in proposals for several possible goals, including: universal health coverage; an increase in health life expectancy; a reduction in non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality; sexual and reproductive rights goals; an AIDS-free generation; and ending preventable child and maternal deaths. He recommended that health goals be “universal, explainable, measurable and equitable,” and called for targeting neglected and hard-to-reach populations to reduce health inequities.

Following the High-level Dialogue, the draft report on health will be finalized and submitted to the UN Secretary-General and the HLP to inform their reports on the post-2015 agenda. [WHO Press Release] [UNAIDS Press Release] [Statement of UNICEF Executive Director] [Health Consultation Website] [WHO Resources on Health Consultation]