More than 1 billion children - half the children in the world - are victims of violence every year. As part of the Post-2015 sustainable development agenda, the UN has issued a global call-to-action: to eliminate violence against children. Essential to preventing violence against children is guidance to countries on using the best available evidence to address this problem. THRIVES provides thi...

In 2011, a high level meeting convened by the UN General Assembly agreed on a Political Declaration that acknowledged mental and neurological disorders are an important cause of morbidity, and a core component of the global rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The recent draft World Health Organization (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (MHAP) 2013–2020 (11 January 2013 version)...

United Nations (2013) A Life of Dignity for All: Accelerating Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals and Advancing the United Nations Development Agenda Beyond 2015. Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations Resolution A/68/202. Available at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc. asp?symbol=A%2F68%2F202 (accessed 3 November 2014). Wahlbeck, K., Westman, J., Nordentoft, M., et al...

Promoting generic medicines to increase access to essential medicines is relevant to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) and post 2015 goals. There are several barriers to encouraging wider use of generic medicines in health systems, e.g. the widely-held perception that low price equals low quality and misalignment of provider and consumer incentives. Overcoming the complex barriers ...

I n September 2015, under the leadership of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the international community took a huge step forward for people, the planet, and prosperity with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pave a brave path towards a world of equity and inclusion, health, including sexual and reproductive heal...

This paper is an exercise in meta-analysis. It brings together several strands of research to examine whether they fit together to produce a socio-economic (briefly, social) model that can be more conducive to sustainability. By “social model” we are referring to the configuration of a society, including its economy, politics, knowledge, and culture. The call for such a model is getting louder ...

In this article, we draw on available evidence from Countdown to 2015 and other sources to make the case for keeping women and children at the heart of the next development agenda that will replace the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework after 2015. We provide a status update on global progress in achieving MDGs 4 and 5, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health, respectively--...

In a previous article, we outlined the efforts of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) lobby to overcome the diseases' snub in the 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to campaign for inclusion in the post-2015 development agenda [1]. In doing so, we noted the extraordinary achievements made by the lobby despite its view from outside of the MDG juggernaut, which singled out just three ...