Abstract:
Abstract: Protecting and promoting health is central to sustained economic and
social development. Three of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(“MDGs”) focused on health, including reducing incidences of HIV and malaria,
improving maternal health, and reducing child mortality. Although specifying disease
areas and health outcomes ensured that the targets had a clear focus, it also created many
problems. In particular, the approach neglected the creation of strong, effective health
systems. The UN’s adoption of the MDGs in 2000 created greater recognition that
sustaining progress in health depends on such systems in the international community.
The MDGs conclude at the end of 2015, making it an opportune time to shape policies
and practices in the post-2015 development agenda that establish strong health systems.
Such systems can be achieved by advancing the principle of universal health coverage
(“UHC”) as a Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”). UHC implies that all people
have access, without discrimination, to nationally determined sets of the needed
promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative basic health services. Further, UHC
would provide all people with essential, safe, affordable, effective, and quality medicines.
It would also ensure that the use of these services does not expose individuals to financial
hardship, emphasizing the needs of low-income and marginalized segments of the
population. Accordingly, this piece introduces the Washington International Law
Journal’s special issue devoted to the transition from MDGs to SDGs and proposes UHC
as a goal for the post-2015 development agenda. In implementing this goal, negotiators
should incorporate key lessons from the MDGs’ successes and limitations, as well as
workable solutions based on national UHC experiences.
Description:
Washington International Law Journal, Volume 24, Number 3, June 2015