Bali and Taaffe1 appropriately highlight the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) as two of the most important global health policy frameworks arising in the post-Millennium Development Goal era. Their article helpfully identifies linkages between the two initiatives. As they point out, while the health-related SDG (SDG 3) does not explicitly address pandemic threats, and GHSA does not explicitly address development, both efforts could become mutually reinforcing, synergistic.

The authors propose a series of policy recommendations to combine the elements — SDG peanut butter and GHSA chocolate — to produce an improved global peanut butter cup. In addition to increasing financial resources for the SDGs and GHSA, Bali and Taffe propose joint implementation of activities that would include investments in surveillance to promote the GHSA agenda while simultaneously strengthening health systems. In turn, enhanced health systems could improve disease surveillance activities.

Health sector stakeholders need to advance GHSA goals in the context of the SDGs and set priorities in ways that do not distort health systems, especially in and for nations with depleted or fragile health systems.

We now have in place a new United Nations Secretary General, and by 2017, we should have a new Director General of the World Health Organization. In addition, there is new leadership in the US, UK, and other group of 7 (G7) Governments. The Bali and Taffe article reminds us that we should link our two latest global health initiatives, SDGs and GHSA, before launching still more policy frameworks.