This Global Strategy is much broader, more ambitious and more focused on equity than its predecessor. It is universal and applies to all people (including the marginalized and hard-to-reach), in all places (including crisis situations) and to transnational issues. It focuses on safeguarding women, children and adolescents in humanitarian and fragile settings and upholding their human rights to the highest attainable standard of health, even in the most difficult circumstances.
For the first time, adolescents join women and children at the heart of the Global Strategy. This acknowledges not only the unique health challenges facing young people, but also their pivotal role alongside women and children as key drivers of change in the post-2015 era.
By investing in the right policies and programmes for adolescents to realize their potential and their human rights to health, education and full participation in society, we can unleash the vast human potential of this “SDG Generation” to transform our world.
This Global Strategy takes a life-course approach that aims for the highest attainable standards of health and well-being—physical, mental and social—at every age. A person’s health at each stage of life affects health at other stages and also has cumulative effects for the next generation. Moreover, the Global Strategy adopts an integrated and multisector approach, recognizing that health-enhancing factors including nutrition, education, water, clean air, sanitation, hygiene and infrastructure are essential to achieving the SDGs.