INTEGRATING CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE INTO THE POST-MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS FRAMEWORK

More than a hundred heads of state and ministers will come together in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nations (UN) Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development to discuss “the future we want” from 20–22 June. “The Future We Want” also titles the zero draft of the outcomes document for the conference.

What is Rio+20?

Many see Rio as the first step in developing a blueprint on how we should approach international development and development funding after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015. With many of the eight goals unmet, experts have challenged the linear nature of the goals and the way in which they were developed. Excluded from the initial set of goals was the need to address non-communicable diseases (NCDs).  Moving forward, the NCD community sees Rio+20 as a key opportunity to ensure that the social determinants of health are included in this development dialogue. 
As the UN High-Level Meeting acknowledged, NCDs are linked to and affected by all aspects of social development. Although sustainable development has been traditionally associated with environmental degradation, it is more broadly about ensuring that all have access to a quality and healthy life, now and in the future. The draft of the “Future We Want” has been divided into seven priority areas, including food security and sustainable agriculture, jobs, sustainable cities, energy, water, oceans and disaster readiness. 

Connection between sustainable development and cardiovascular health

Although not seemingly health related, each “Future We Want” priority area impacts our cardiovascular health. As the World Heart Federation report on Urbanization and cardiovascular disease – Raising heart healthy-children in today’s cities highlights, the built environment plays a key role in our cardiovascular health.  From increased access to low-quality air and food high in calories, to fewer opportunities to walk and be active in safe settings, unplanned urbanization affects individual health.  Thus, ensuring that health priorities are included in these areas will be critical to the post-MDG landscape.

Action at Rio+20

In addition to calling for key health indicators, the NCD community will continue to call for three things specifically:

1. Achieve universal health access: Healthy people are better able to learn, earn and contribute positively to their societies.
2. Enhance health gains from sustainable development investments and decisions: Health gain from development is not automatic and strategies need to be designed with health in mind.
3. Adopt health indicators to measure progress/achievements in sustainable development: Many key measurements of health can also tell us how well we are advancing in sustainable development, and vice versa.

To learn more about health and sustainable development see the NCD Alliance briefing paper and the World Heart Federation Urbanization Report. For more information on health indicators being advocated for, please contact the World Heart Federation.