Health in all policies: a strategy to support the Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Francisco Becerra-Posada
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2015)

Regarding the Comment by Jeff Waage and colleagues (May, 2015)1Waage J Yap C Bell S et al.Governing the UN Sustainable Development Goals: interactions, infrastructures, and institutions.Lancet Glob Health. 2015; 3: e251-e252Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (134) Google Scholar about governing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we appreciate the authors' perspectives on the process of finalising the SDGs and agree with their recommendations to develop new and more accountable governance structures that work across sectors. As a result, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has begun to incorporate the Health in All Policies framework,2WHOHealth in all policies: framework for country action.http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/frameworkforcountryaction/en/Google Scholar putting it into practice across the region of the Americas. We view it as an important mechanism to find synergies between the third SDG explicitly related to health and the 16 others, which all have the potential to affect health. The SDGs are a result of a complex process that attempts to build on the successes of the MDGs. The proposed list of goals and their associated objectives reflect the multitude of factors that influence development along with the aspirational agenda to improve governance systems. Health is essential to sustainable development and is also one of its most significant achievements. Whereas only one of the 17 SDGs is exclusively about health, many others have targets or represent sectors that are essential to address the environmental and social determinants of health. As society builds sustainable cities, ends poverty and hunger while promoting equity, it also improves health. The conditions in which the world's people are born, live, work, and age, whether they are environmental, economic, or social, determine one's health in very profound ways, often extending beyond the health sector and health policies. Greater synergies between health and other sectors could be achieved by framing the SDGs in such a way that their attainment requires policy coherence and shared solutions across multiple sectors; that is a Health-in-All-Policies approach. This approach provides a policy making framework for governance systems to develop complex solutions for complex problems arising from the array of health determinants. Here at PAHO, we have taken up the challenge of addressing the social determinants of health in the region through action across sectors by becoming the first region in the world to adopt a Regional Plan of Action on Health in All Policies.3PAHOPlan of action on health in all policies.http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9361&Itemid=40258&lang=enGoogle Scholar We have also established a Special Task Force on Health in All Policies and the SDGs with the objective of defining a core group of indicators from across the SDG framework that can be used to promote intersectoral actions and monitor their effect on health. We believe that this work complements our Regional Plan of Action on Health in All Policies while working hand-in-hand with our Member States to achieve the ambitious goals being finalised at the UN General Assembly later this year. In preparing for the post-2015 agenda, the public health community now has a unique opportunity to use a Health in All Policies approach in informing policies and practices, recognising the importance of building partnerships and developing networks with and within different sectors of society with the ultimate goal of supporting health equity while promoting positive social change. I am the Assistant Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization. Taking health into account in all policies – Author's replyThe singularity of the opportunity presented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lies in their explicit aim to support economic, social, and environmental development that promotes human rights, sustainability, and equity. And there is no better way to achieve this goal than promoting health. Within the complexity of the proposed goals and targets lies a key strength: the stakeholders responsible for promoting the broader sustainable development agenda agree to define development not in the reductive terms of gross domestic product, but framed by central considerations of equity, health, and sustainability. Full-Text PDF Open AccessTaking health into account in all policiesFrancisco Becerra-Posada (July, 2015)1 writes about the efforts of the Pan American Health Organization to take up the challenge of addressing the social determinants of health through action across sectors and on becoming the first in the world to adopt a Regional Plan of Action on Health in All Policies. I fully agree with his comment that "the public health community now has a unique opportunity to use a Health in All Policies approach in informing policies and practices".1 Full-Text PDF Open Access