MSI:How would you describe the mandate of the WHO's MDG Health and Development Policy Unit?

Rebecca Dodd: I think There are two important parts of our mandate. The first is to look at the link between health policy and the development policy. The second deals with the Millennium Development Goals. We do not take direct action at a country level which contributes to the MDGs, our role is a broader policy one which has several aspects. The first is articulating coherent and consistent WHO messages on the MDGs to external audiences where the MDGs agenda are being discussed. The second is seeing the MDGs as an overarching framework and the role of health within them. The achievement of one goal is dependant on all the others especially those directly linked to health so part of our job is to get that message across to both the WHO and outside audiences. We also coordinate WHO input on the MDGs into various external events such as the big UN summit which is going to take place in September this year on the MDGs.

MSI: We have noticed that the MDGs have been criticized several times during the Assembly for being the "end-goals" without providing realistic guidelines for achieving them. While your office may focus on policy, do you know what WHO as a whole is currently doing to provide us with these specific guidelines that can operate on a country level?

Rebecca Dodd: I think that it is actually a strength of the MDGs rather than a weakness, because the MDGs give us the kind of outcomes that we, as a global community, want to aim for. They don't tell us the means of getting there because the means need to be country specific. The MDGs don't say everything there is to say about how you improve health, they do not include health systems or reproductive health but these issues must be addressed to achieve the MDGs. However, the country must determine what strategy and policy is required.

MSI: You mentioned communicating the principles of the MDGs to externals. One thing I've noticed is that empowerment is not mentioned specifically in the MDGs but they require work from individual communities to achieve. Empowerment is essential for sustainable development which is the final MDG and ultimately what all the other MDGs feed into. I would like to ask you how the principles of MDGs are consistent with health promotion at a grassroots level, which is a major theme thus far and how they are made accessible to the general public?

Rebecca Dodd: With regards to empowerment many of us at the WHO believe the MDGs aren't going to be achieved without a process of empowering whole communities. There is nothing specifically in the list of MDG targets or indicators which mentions that, but, that doesn't necessarily mean those things are not important. So, it's a matter again of country-based strategy. However, the targets do refer to improvement in terms of national averages, there is some evidence that it's possible, in any given country context, to achieve the MDG target of reducing child mortality by 2/3, for example, without actually making an impact in the poorest population group. So one of the messages our department is very keen on promoting is that you need to pay attention to progress towards the MDGs in different income groups. With regards to making the MDGs accessible to the general public, in developing countries this can be part of your empowerment strategy, and part of holding policymakers accountable. If your government signs up to certain development targets, then the people of the country can hold the government accountable. It's important that you have the structures and clear which allow that process to happen. In developed countries, it's more about how aid is spent. The MDG framework can be used to communicate to the general public how their aid money is spent. Often policy relates to the MDGs but the aid is not spent on them.

MSI : " If current trends continue the MDGs will not be achievable". At the most recent evaluation, many countries had not reached their targets and will probably fail to meet the MDGs by 2015. Is there a contingency plan for post-2015?

Rebecca Dodd: No, so far people have not talked about post-2015. At the moment they are concentrating on how we can change what we are doing now to accelerate progress, given that the MDGs represent a really unprecedented and unique global commitment. We have to use the political momentum that they have generated rather than thinking about what might come next. There are people, for example Jeffery Sachs, who would argue that if we were to really make an effort to scale up now, then MDGs would be achievable.

MSI: When the evaluation process occurs in 2015 and then further policy is developed, does that becomes the responsibility of your office?

Rebecca Dodd: We aren't considering that yet because is still ten years away. We are focusing on how we can persuade donor governments and recipient countries to scale up the efforts now

MSI: In what way can IFMSA support the WHO's work on the MDGs?

Rebecca Dodd: The next generation of doctors and health workers who will be working in both developing countries and developed countries really need to understand the MDG framework and understand why it's important for health. They can then take that forward into their working life.

MSI: Thank you on behalf of IFMSA for your time and contribution, and wish you all the best in your work with the MDGs.

MSI was fortunate enough to interview Rebecca Dodd, a technical officer with the MDGs/Health and development policy Unit of WHO, about the work of WHO on the MDGs, especially those related to Health. The MDGs/Health and development policy Unit work supports the efforts of the WHO secretariat, Member States and development partners, in global efforts to improve health outcomes particularly for poor people. (Interview conducted by Serini Murugasen and Akihito Watabe)