Health care for all! Really?

What are the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are they useful?

Every person should have access to health care to achieve the highest possible standard of mental and physical health. This is a fundamental human right. However, due to the very different socio-economic and political contexts around the world, this has yet to happen. How can the SDGs help solve this?

The panel will give a reality check on the potentials and constraints of the SDGs to transform health inequity.

Moderator:

Viva Combs Thorsen is a researcher at the Institute of Health and Society. She has over 20 years of public health experience and her main interests and expertise are in the areas of maternal health, HIV/AIDS, quality of care, tuberculosis, and waterborne disease prevention.

Panel:

Dr. Tarek Meguid, a gyneacologist/obstetrician, is a former member of the Independent expert review group in WHO’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. He works as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Mnazi Mmoja Hospital and Associate Professor at the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), School of Health & Medical Sciences, Zanzibar, Tanzania. In addition to having a Medical Degree, he holds an MPhil in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Cape Town, South Africa; a DTM&H from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; an LL.B. from Nottingham Trent University; and a MSt in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University.

Malcolm Langford is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo and Co-Director of the Centre on Law and Social Transformation at CMI.His publications span human rights, international development, international investment and comparative constitutionalism in a range of disciplines and his awards include the University Medal in Economics from the University of NSW and the Young Scholar Prize from the European Society of International Law. Currently, Malcolm Langford co-coordinates two research grants from the Norwegian Research Council on sexual and reproductive rights, serves as an advisor to various UN bodies, governments and NGOs, and co-directs the Global School on Socio-Economic Rights, Judgment Watch and Metrics for Human Rights.

Please find a complimentary biography at UiO - Department of Public and International Law

Dr. Berit Austveg has experience from the UN, World Bank, Norwegian government and NGOs. Her focus has been on sexual and reproductive health. She is based at the Resource Centre for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women (MIRA) in Oslo. Trained as a medical doctor at the University of Oslo, she later worked for 12 years as head of Health Service for Immigrants. For the last almost 30 years, she has worked in development assistance, in and with bilateral and multilateral organizations.

Published Jan. 31, 2017 12:48 PM - Last modified May 11, 2022 11:15 AM