Aspen Consultation: Health, Food Security and Population in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
More than a decade ago, the world’s nations launched a far-reaching plan to improve human well-being. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set ambitious targets for poverty reduction, universal education, gender equality and more—to be achieved by 2015.
The approaching deadline has sparked a global conversation about the future of development. Around the world, policymakers and citizens are working to envision a new set of objectives that build on the MDGs while addressing new and intractable challenges.
As part of that effort, in December 2012, Aspen Global Health and Development convened a distinguished group of public- and private-sector experts for a consultation on the post-2015 development agenda. Participants focused on the interrelated issues of health, food security and population dynamics, but the wide-ranging conversation encompassed many of this century’s most pressing challenges.
The consultation produced a remarkable degree of consensus. Participants agreed on the need to break free of issue “silos,” and devise goals and strategies that reflect the interrelated nature of social, economic and environmental problems. They called for moving beyond a narrow approach to poverty reduction, toward development that is both sustainable and equitable. Finally, they agreed that a renewed focus on women’s empowerment and health—including reproductive health—is central to achieving those objectives.
The Summary Report of the Aspen Consultation synthesized the major points of discussion at the meeting, and was designed to provide stakeholder input into the process of shaping the post-2015 develpoment agenda through informing the deliberations of the Secretary General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda.
Aspen Global Health and Development convenes policy experts and draft recommendations on the interrelated issues of health, food security, and population dynamics.