Honourable ministers, members of the Commission on Information and Accountability, members of the independent Expert Review Group, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Geneva. You will be looking at past achievements in the move to improve accountability, and considering how these experiences can shape better health under the new agenda for sustainable development.
Five years ago, the report of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health shifted global health initiatives to a new and higher ground.
With its 10 recommendations and 11 indicators, the report established a workable and compelling model for accountability. It focused attention, as never before, on the need to produce measurable results and, ideally, have them independently reviewed as well.
That sharp attention brought other priorities in its wake, like addressing the large number of countries that do not have reliable systems for civil registration and vital statistics. We are making progress, also with establishing systems for health accounts to track how money is spent, under the watchful eye of civil society, parliaments, and the media.
Accountability for results is now a movement and a force that will unquestionably shape the implementation of health programmes under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As we all know, the SDGs with their 169 interactive targets, are supremely ambitious. Targets include further reductions in maternal mortality, ending preventable deaths of newborns and young children, and above all, leaving no one behind.
However, the targets are realistic in the sense that progress can be measured with a great deal of precision. This is also true for the target set for universal health coverage.
As we also know, the political and financial contexts are less promising than they were 15 years ago. Demonstrating measurable results within countries is one of the best ways to build on the strong momentum to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents. We need to keep in mind, too, that stillbirths are a very sensitive marker of the quality of a health system’s overall performance.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This consultation will be looking at accountability for the revised global strategy under the SDGs. You will be given an overview of where we stand with accountability initiatives, with an emphasis on what is happening in countries and where further support is likely to bring the best results. You will hear proposals for establishing an independent advisory panel aimed at harmonizing reporting through a unified global accountability framework.
Working groups, on results, resources, and rights, will look at concrete issues within countries and define priorities for action, at global, regional, and country levels, under the “monitor, review, act” framework.
The determinants of women’s, children’s, and adolescent’s health are exceptionally broad, and are certain to benefit from the deliberately interactive and synergistic nature of SDG targets. Tomorrow, you will discuss accountability in this broader context, which includes the importance of universal health coverage as a pro-poor pillar of sustainable development that underpins multiple targets.
Your agenda is well-planned, exciting, and certain to yield a concrete way forward. I thank so many of you who have been on this journey. Let your deliberations enable an even higher level of ambition. I wish you a most productive meeting.
Thank you.