Population Health Environment Programmes: An Integrated Approach to Development Post-2015

The drivers of extreme poverty, poor health, gender inequality, food insecurity, population pressures, unsustainable natural resource use and biodiversity loss are interconnected and often coexist, acting synergistically to adversely affect one another. Attempts to address these issues are likely to be more effective if they acknowledge this interconnectedness, and take a whole system approach to the challenge of sustainable development, by harmonising social, economic and environmental concerns. Integrated Population, Health and Environment (PHE) programmes attempt to do just this. By taking a more holistic approach to address biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and health needs, including sexual and reproductive health and rights and lack of access to modern contraceptives, in an integrated way, PHE programmes are able to reverse this vicious cycle. This multi sectoral integrated approach can yield cost efficiencies through the sharing of resources, information and opportunities, and lead to more effective and sustained outcomes than traditional single sector approaches. The inclusion of reproductive health and