Ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development

Ahead of the September meeting the Third International Conference on Financing for Development will gather high-level political representatives, including Heads of State and Government, and Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, as well as all relevant institutional stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and business sector entities in Addis in July. The conference will result in […]

Ahead of the September meeting the Third International Conference on Financing for Development will gather high-level political representatives, including Heads of State and Government, and Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, as well as all relevant institutional stakeholders, non-governmental organizations and business sector entities in Addis in July. The conference will result in an intergovernmental negotiated and agreed outcome, which should constitute an important contribution to and support the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda.
In the same July, the Addis Conference,  the Global Financing Facility (GFF) will be launched which was initially created in September 2014 by the World Bank Group, Canada, Norway and the United States in support of Every Women Every Child. The goal of the GFF is to accelerate efforts to end preventable newborn, child, adolescent and maternal deaths and improve the health and quality of life of women, adolescents and children.
With full financing, it could prevent up to 3.8 million maternal deaths, 101 million child deaths and 21 million stillbirths in 63 high-burden countries by 2030. The GFF will serve as a major vehicle for financing the proposed post-2015 Sustainable Development goal on healthy lives and will play a special role in scaling up financing to support the U.N Secretary-General’s renewed “Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health”.
The September UN meeting is about round 2 Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’, post 2015 health agenda and new SDGs. Ahead of that an international consultation was held to get feedback on the Zero Draft of the Global Strategy.
The following provide a succinct feedback across the globe. The consultation process was coordinated by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (the Partnership) at the request of the office of the United Nations Secretary General.  The strategy will guide priorities for the future. The consultation process suggests that the strategy is valued as an important guide from a trusted, objective source and is used to determine what should be done at national and sub-national levels, to support policy and programme decisions, to guide funding allocations, and to identify how to invest in monitoring and accountability processes.
However there is a risk that what is not in the strategy, will not necessarily be considered a policy priority. Therefore, while the strategy was appreciated for its ambition to be rights-based, in order to hit the right note with a wide audience, it should aim to incorporate the life course approach in a way that;
(i) “Recognises that problems at one stage of life may have been made worse through neglect at an earlier stage or that could have been prevented or mitigated through intervention earlier in the life-course;
(ii) Ensures all major life-saving, life enhancing interventions are included, but particularly comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, (including abortion and comprehensive sexuality education), maternal and women’s health, stillbirth, breastfeeding as part of a broader nutrition agenda, integration of NCDs and RMNCAH services and mental health.
(iii) An unfinished agenda with new challenges. Despite much progress, the MDG agenda is unfinished. The updated strategy is an important opportunity to create a bridge between the unfinished MDG agenda and the new, broader SDGs. The Strategy should thus aim to build on the previous one, beginning with clear lessons learned, the critical interventions for women, adolescents and children, the building blocks of health systems strengthening, the fundamentals of health
(iv) The strategy should also reference the major processes and platforms that are driving women’s and children’s health including FP2020, A Promise Renewed, the Commission on Life Saving Commodities, ENAP (Every Newborn Action Plan), and others and reflect the intergovernmental reviews of the ICPD and Beijing Agenda.
(v) Adolescents not yet sufficiently in the fold. The health needs of adolescents, their specific circumstances and point in the lifecycle, as well as the cultural, economic and legal barriers they often experience, should be addressed in a more structured and up-front way, separately from women.
(vi) The strategy should refer broadly to the range of adolescent needs (including those of adolescent boys) beyond health services that are vital to health and well-being including preventative services, education, skills, employment, mental health, harm reduction, social skills and gender awareness. It should also be clear about where the data and evidence falls short of what’s needed and identify how to fill the gap. Consider re-ordering the Strategy title to read: ‘The Global Strategy for Women, Adolescents and Children’.
(vii) Make this a strategy for all. The Strategy should ensure it clearly and explicitly addresses the needs of all people and communities.
(viii)         Health systems strengthening, financing and universal health coverage. The strategy should identify and showcase the important elements of health systems strengthening, guiding investments and delivery including, as a priority: Human resources for health; the availability, logistics and management of lifesaving commodities; Investment in reliable, open and transparent data generation; the vital importance of universal health coverage and critical financing issues including financial protection especially for the poorest.”
All comments to Dr Aminu Magashi Publisher Health Reporters ([email protected])