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25/06/2010

Author: Kelly Davis, Executive Producer, Global Health TV

I have to be honest, at first glance the theme of the Global Health Council's annual conference, “goals and metrics”, seemed a little dry. In a field full of remarkable people who save lives every day, often in challenging circumstances, meeting to talk about tools for measuring progress didn't sound too promising.  But with the deadline for reaching the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals just five years away global health leaders know that now is the time to be discussing progress, and setting in place a plan to reach the three MDGs on global health.

During our time in Washington DC, where we produced a daily television show at the conference, the Global Health TV team was fortunate enough to talk with people who are keeping that 2015 deadline in mind and helping to ensure the MDGs become more than just another Year 2000 project gone wrong.  People like Sering Falu Njie from the Millennium Campaign who is passionate and eloquent in his belief that the world has the knowledge and resources to meet the goals - but doesn't shrink from chiding world leaders for dragging their heels somewhat.

What became clear through the conference was that the global health community agrees the goals are worth striving for - and even exceeding - but that it's not always easy to measure success.  It's exciting to see progress is being made on child and maternal mortality and on combating HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases - and to see that countries like China and India are making progress.  But while there is confusion on how to reach MDGs 4, 5 & 6 and while much of sub-Saharan Africa shows little progress toward the goals the question remains; will we get there?
 

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