A vision for WHO for 2017 and beyond

Thursday, December 29, 2016

A new year, a new challenge and a new resolution

As I turn the calendar page to January 2017, I am keen to look ahead and examine our health challenges for the coming year and decade – challenges with goals and targets which have been well defined in our United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and especially, in the ‘health goal’ or SDG 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

For me, the greatest injustice of our time is that millions of adults, adolescents and children around the world die unnecessarily from preventable causes for which there are evidence-based interventions. Millions more fail to reach their full potential for health and well-being, which also constrains their contributions to social and economic development.

As Italy’s candidate in the up-coming election for Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), I aspire to bring leadership and solutions to this injustice. My vision for WHO’s work can be summarized in five words: Equity, Rights, Responsiveness, Evidence, and Partnership. Five words, but charged with so much meaning and power for global health.

If we are serious about achieving SDG 3 and in particular, the target of universal health coverage, we must unite around equity and rights. We must utilize WHO’s unparalleled convening power to bring together the scientific evidence, mobilize global partnerships, and realize the central promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Leave No One Behind.

Source: Huffington Post (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care