Abstract
Maternal health is one of the 169 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the SDGs are less focused on maternal health than their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs’ commitments to multisectoral development, health systems, universal health coverage and equity could provide the foundations for sustainable advances in maternal health.
There is optimism that the inclusion of universal health coverage in the Sustainable Development Goals advances its prominence in global and national health policy. However, formulating indicators for Target 3.8 through the Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Indicators has been challenging. Achieving consensus on the conceptual and methodological aspects of universal health coverage is likely to take some time in multi-stakeholder fora compared with national efforts to select indicators.
Accelerating health equity: the key role of universal health coverage in the Sustainable Development Goals
