Dateline 2010: Global Health Goals and Metrics
What are goals? The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines, in its first instance, a goal to be "the terminal point of a race."
2010 is a landmark year for many goals within in the global health community - ICPD, Universal Access, among others. Perhaps the most omnipresent of all development commitments are those of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2000, the world agreed, at least in theory, to support eight key actions to improve the lives of the world's poor that comprise the MDGs. But 15 years is not enough to eliminate hundreds of years of poverty, war and inequity.
Some of the questions the conference will address are:
- How do the global goals help or hinder the achievement of providing and accessing essential health services for the world's poorest?
- How are specific programs/partnerships contributing to the overarching goals?
- How are we measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of what we do?
- How do we share what works and what does not work in order to accelerate achievement of common goals?
- Can goals be universally applied?
- How can countries/governments be held accountable?
- How can all stakeholders/partners be held equally accountable for progress toward the goals?
- How do we respond to challenges that impede progress toward goals, as well as to great performance?
More information about the conference is available at http://www.globalhealth.org/