The Health Strategy recognizes that health outcomes cannot be sustained without acknowledging the social and physical environments and determinants in which health care efforts are taking place, and that investments across sectors are essential for promoting health.
Studies show that as much as 50 per cent of the reduction in under-five child mortality across 142 countries is due to factors outside the health sector, such as education, access to clean water and sanitation, and womens participation in politics.
A critical way to look at the SDG agenda and its 17 goals is to say that health issues now share a crowded stage with more issues.
A positive perspective is to say that the SDGs truly embrace a multi-sectoral approach to improving health and well being which will:
be more sustainable
foster collaboration between sectors
transform how technology, innovation and collaboration with non-traditional partners, especially the private sector, will influence and most likely define new engagements in financing for health and its outcomes.
Health is determined in part by access to social and economic opportunities, resources available, neighborhoods, schooling, workplaces, cleanliness of water, food, air, exposure to crime or violence, the strength of institutions, access to transport, energy and technology as well as social systems such as prevalence of discrimination.
This figure provides a high-level overview of the Health Strategy.
At the top, you will see the vision: A world where no child dies from a preventable cause and all children reach their full potential in health and well-being
This is distilled into two high level goals: ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths; and promoting the health and development of all children
To achieve these goals, the strategy sets out three approaches and four priority action areas, which we will elaborate on in the next slides
At the bottom, we see the cross-cutting focus on measurement, learning and accountability, which underpins the entire strategy.