The Post-2015 Development Agenda: The Role of Surgical Care in Improving Health

Excerpt

During the past decade and a half, the global health landscape has been characterised by efforts to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs). These eight health-related objectives agreed upon by the international health community were established in the millennium declaration. The formalisation of these goals and the predefined essential services needed to achieve them has garnered political priority and has been promoted through multiple institutions and organizations [1]. However, as the year 2015 approaches, and with it the target date to achieve the MDGs, attention is increasingly been drawn to the health architecture of the post-MDG era and the health priorities for this next chapter of international health promotion [2]. Key considerations include how to best place health in the post-2015 agenda. With a sizeable proportion of disease burden reducible by surgical intervention [3] coupled with the current inequitable distribution of surgical services globally [4], it is clear that surgical care should play an important role in improving health in the post-2015 era. …