What will follow the millennium development goals?

In July 2012, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appointed 27 “eminent persons,” including the presidents of Liberia, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, to a “high level panel” to advise on a post-2015 development framework to succeed the millennium development goals. The panel issued its recommendations in June 2013 to (mostly) warm reviews. That a global group of politicians and the politically connected could agree on a reasonably coherent framework of numerical goals and targets covering areas ranging from health through equality to governance and security is no small achievement.1

The high level panel was ambitious when it came to health status goals. The 2030 targets they propose include an end to preventable deaths among under-5s, hunger, and defecation in open fields; zero violence against women and children; universal sexual and reproductive health rights; and universal access to water and sanitation worldwide. Other goals include the target on social protection (safety nets against health and other shocks), as well as vaccination …