SDGs: Start with maternal, newborn, and child health cluster

摘要

On July 19,2014, the UN Open Working Group, which had been working for 18 months, adopted by acclamation a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to send to the UN Secretary General and General Assembly in September, 2014, for consideration. The Open Working Group proposed 17 goals and 169 targets for a 15 year period from 2015 to 2030. Setting such a large number of priorities has the potential to dilute focus and deflate the inspiration for action. Compounding the issues of focus and inspiring action, consider the practical challenges of executing these many goals and targets, raising appropriate financing, and ensuring appropriate measurement frameworks. There is a solution: launch clusters of targets forthe SDGs in a rolling fashion over a period of 5 years. Maternal, newborn, and child cluster would be an ideal start.