Principles

PAHO's work on the MDGs relies on a general conceptual framework based on the following principles.  

Equity
 

By nature, in order to be achieved, the MDGs require focalized actions targeting society's most vulnerable groups, and coordinated efforts towards poverty reduction, and the improvement of health, education, gender equity, and the environment through inter-sector efforts. In other words, it is necessary to have a synergistic approach in order to successfully reduce extreme poverty and avoid its consequences on public health. Therefore, the MDGs require coherent public policies that strengthen inter-sectoriality and that are directed to the populations most in need.

Right to Health
 

The MDGs are based on the notion that the citizens of the world should be awarded economic, social, and cultural rights, including the right to health. This vision reflects the political agreement entrenched in the "Protocol of San Salvador" of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.  Signed in San Salvador, El Salvador during the eighteenth regular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States on November 17, 1988, the protocol regards the social protection of health as a key element for national progress.

Social Cohesion
 

The countries of the Region are committed to broaden prevention, care, and promotion strategies, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable segments of society, thus taking on the challenge, and the commitment, to ensure social cohesion of its peoples.

Social Determinants of Health
 

Furthermore, given the interconnectedness of the goals, it is impossible to advance towards the achievement of the MDGs without the creation of strategies based on the analysis of the social determinants of health, and the establishment of policies requiring the participation of a multiplicity of sectors in unison. The social determinants of health pertain to the specific characteristics of the social context as well as the ways in which social conditions affect health and how these can be modified through informed  action. They must be analyzed bearing in mind the historical and structural factors that have placed women and ethnic minorities at a disadvantage. They also require the attentive study and consideration of geography, ethnicity, race and generational groups.