Measuring the Next Global Development Goals

OVER THE NEXT 15 years, a rough calculation suggests that at least $2.5 trillion will be spent on development assistance. Where this spending goes will largely be dictated by 169 development targets that the United Nations has endorsed for the next decade and a half. Next week, government ministers will return to New York to discuss the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda, amid growing recognition of the headache of trying to pursue so many different well-meaning ambitions at once.

A sad reality of this hyper-partisan, politicized era is that many policy proposals are immediately identified as either “left-wing” or “right-wing” and lauded and derided by partisans as if by rote, with little room for discussion about soundness or impact. But there is an alternative that could help us get past this political divisiveness: using data to help us focus on the policies and investments that would have the biggest positive impact on society.

Ghanaians’ health issues have shifted over time, from infectious diseases and maternal and child health problems to ever more non-communicable diseases. The current co-existence of diseases like malaria and tuberculosis with hypertension, stroke, and diabetes presents a challenge for the country’s health care system, and especially for the poor.