Health equity: the linchpin of sustainable development

Abstract

The Region of the Americas, together with the rest of the world, is preparing to face the major challenges presented by the post-2015 sustainable development agenda (SDA), whose 17 objectives include health and well-being, the reduction of inequity, and action on a wide range of social and environmental determinants of health (1). In these times of change, the first of many lessons learned on the road toward achieving—or in some cases, not achieving—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is that the principle of equity is an ethical imperative essential to guiding, informing, and defining political priorities for action on health and well-being. Rooted in the Health for All movement and in the legacy of Alma-Ata, the principle of equity continues to inspire the spirit of universality and social inclusion required to implement the global and Regional post-2015 agenda, eliminate social inequities in health, and achieve the sustainable development goals...