Health equity is the most telling metric of progress on the 2030 Agenda. The world is vastly off track to achieve its health targets. Actions using health promotion tools aimed at reducing health equity gaps will accelerate progress on the SDGs.
International cooperation required for the success of SDGs makes a compelling case for a global treaty on achieving national and global health equity. Such a treaty would be based in the right to health, whose core principles, including equality, participation, and accountability, are indispensable for achieving health equity. The treaty’s impact would come from its powerful standards and mechanisms for implementing these principles.
Accordingly, we urge governments to initiate a process towards adopting a rights-based treaty on health equity.