Nursing Protagonism in the UN Goals for the people’s health

Mendes IAC, Ventura CAA. Nursing Protagonism in the UN Goals for the people’s health. Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem. 2017;25:e2864. [Access ___ __ ____]; Available in: ____________________. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.1590/1518-8345.0000.2864. URL day month year For decades, high-level discussions on possible actions and strategic goals have been conducted aiming at achieving a better level of health for the people, involving government representations of member countries, civil society, private sector and academic leaders under the World Health Organization (WHO) leadership and, with the participation of other agencies of the United Nations Organization (UN). In this sense, principles for the organization of national health services and systems, considering human resources training for health, have been discussed since the Alma-Ata and have materialized in specific objectives and indicators through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and now with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Moreover, despite cooperation efforts and investments in infrastructure and human resources training, it was still not possible to align results with projected expectations. In order to target health investment to achieve these goals, the WHO has produced a practical guide to adapt funding for the provision of universal health coverage(1). In the imminence of the milestone established for the achievement of the Millennium goals, based on a broad consultation, in 2012, leaders listed positive results derived from this policy with regard to the objectives related to the health area, the main ones are: increased health funding, more progress since 2000 than in previous periods; influence of political discourse at the highest levels, with indicators driven by concrete quantifiable goals and objectives. On the other hand, weaknesses were clear: lack of focus on equity and human rights as well as instabilities in the process, contributing to accentuate the fragmented health approach. Given this context, the goals for the post 2015 period were: to maintain as a priority the millennium goals related to health; attention and measures to refrain risk factors and promote care to the population with non-communicable diseases; equity and human rights as fundamental principles in all contexts; strengthening health systems, now with more attention to specific factors such as mental health, nutrition, adolescence, sexual and reproductive health(2). Based on this consultation, consensuses were produced focusing on the assumption that health acts both as a trigger and as a beneficiary of Nursing Protagonism in the UN Goals for the people’s health