The ‘worst-off’ have been targeted in international development interventions for decades, including the current push towards evaluating progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using an equity-focused and gender-responsive lens (see, for example, Bamberger and Segone 2011; UNICEF 2011). Even in developed nations, the rhetoric of politicians, organisations and programs has...

2582 www.thelancet.com Vol 387 June 25, 2016 The inclusion of a focus on alcohol consumption within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) illustrates the increased diversity of the new global development agenda. Recognition of alcohol as a development issue refl ects its multiple social and economic impacts as well as the 3·3 million annual deaths, or 5·9% of all global deaths, that result f...

The world leaders agreed to make the world a better place by year 2030 through the Sustainable Development Goals and targets. This however cannot be achieved in Nigeria except we are proactive about some cultural practices that negatively affect the girl child.  Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) are two deep-rooted Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) that have prevai...

The Millennium Development Goal-4 (MDG-4) had a target of reducing the under-fi ve mortality rate (U5MR) by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015. When compared to 1990 levels, 17,000 fewer children died each day in 2015. In 2012, UNICEF found that, globally, children born in the poorest 20% of households had only half the chance of surviving to their fi fth birthday as children born in the richest...