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SDG #3 - GOOD HEALTH & WELL-BEING
Overview
Achieving healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages is essential to sustainable development and requires collaboration in other SDGs for it to come to fruition. The world has made significant progress, but still faces significant challenges to achieving the 2030 targets for Good Health & Well-Being.
Women around the world lack access to sexual and reproductive health care, millions suffer from malnutrition, HIV/AIDS continues to afflict thousands daily, billions of people have no access to life-saving medicine, and we continue to create more waste that will impact the health of all.
Poor health impacts every dimension of human life: lowers access to education and economic opportunities and increases poverty. A cause of poverty, health is also impacted by poverty and Goal 3 is strongly connected to SDGs, such as Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 6: Clean Water & Sanitation, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.
Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
Most maternal deaths can be prevented, and we need an annual rate of reduction of at least 7.5 per cent – more than double the annual rate of progress achieved from 2000 to 2015 – if we are to achieve the 2030 target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Progress has been made in access to skilled care during delivery: 78 per cent of live births worldwide benefited from skilled care during delivery, compared to 61 per cent in 2000. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the rate in 2016 was only 53 per cent of live births.
The mortality rate for children under 5 years of age globally in 2015 was a 44 percent reduction since 2000, with 43 deaths per 1,000 live births. However, mortality rates among this demographic remains high in sub-Saharan Africa with a rate of nearly double. Children are most vulnerable in the first 28 days of life, and in 2015, the global neonatal mortality rate was 19 deaths per 1,000 live births. This is a decrease from 31 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000, but neonatal mortality remains in Central and Southern Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa, at 29 deaths per 1,000 live births in each of those regions. Preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing adolescent childbearing through universal access to sexual and reproductive health care is crucial to the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
We have made great progress in ensuring that women of reproductive age (15-49) who are partnered had their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods, with 78 per cent having access in 2017. Progress has been substantial in the least developed countries, with a rise of 18 percentage points from 2000 to 2017. This has contributed to a decline of 21 per cent in adolescent birth rates from 2000 to 2015; in Northern America and Southern Asia, it dropped by more than 50 per cent. Now, we need to focus on developing countries, where there were more than 20 births per 1,000 adolescent girls in 2015.
Infectious Diseases
The risk of infectious disease outbreaks has declined with major medical advances. Globally in 2015, there were a mere 0.3 new HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infections per 1,000 uninfected people; among children under 15 years of age, this rate was 0.08. This represents a decline of 45 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, since 2000. The incidence of HIV infection remained highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with 1.5 new infections per 1,000 uninfected people in 2015. Cases of tuberculosis also declined significantly since 2000, with 10.4 million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide – a decline of 17 per cent since 2000.
Malaria – one of the most widespread infectious diseases – is becoming much more manageable, and the incidence rate in 2015 dropped by 41 per cent compared with rates in 2000. Progress has also been made with other tropical diseases with 1.6 billion people requiring treatment or care in 2015, seeing a 21 per cent decline from 2010.
The hepatitis family has historically caused millions of deaths, but has seen a significant drop due to global coverage of vaccinations. Nevertheless, around 1.34 million deaths were still attributed to hepatitis in 2015, including 0.9 million deaths from hepatitis B.
A major risk factor for infectious diseases and mortality is the lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, which disproportionately affects sub-Saharan Africa and Central/Southern Asia. Death rates owing to the lack of WASH services in those two regions were nearly quadruple and double the rates, respectively, of the rest of the world in 2012.
Non-Communicable Diseases & Mental Health
Forty-three per cent of premature deaths (before 70 years of age) in 2015 were a result of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease or diabetes. Although the risk of dying from these causes decreased from 23 to 19 per cent between 2000 and 2015, more action is needed to achieve the 2030 target of a one-third reduction.
Mental health is a large element of overall well-being, and mental disorders as depression can lead to suicide. Nearly 800,000 suicides occurred worldwide in 2015, with men about twice as likely to commit suicide as women. More support for mental health and wellness is needed as worldwide, suicide is one of the leading causes of death for both men and women between the ages of 15 and 29.
Lifestyles that include tobacco use contribute to the burden of non-communicable diseases, and while the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has been ratified by 180 parties (representing 90 per cent of global population), more than 1.1 billion people, mostly men, consumed tobacco in 2015. There is some good news: the prevalence of smoking among individuals 15 years of age and older dropped from 23 per cent in 2007 to 21 per cent in 2013.
Indoor and ambient air pollution is the greatest environmental health risk, and deaths related to air pollution continue to persist. Globally in 2012, household air pollution from cooking with unclean fuels or inefficient technologies led to an estimated 4.3 million deaths, while ambient air pollution from traffic, industrial sources, waste burning or residential fuel combustion resulted in an estimated 3 million deaths.
Other Health Risks
While we have seen a reduction in deaths from diseases, some factors have increased risk of death. In 2013, about 1.25 million people died from road traffic injuries, an increase of 13 per cent globally since 2000. Improved city planning can help reduce this risk. An estimated 108,000 people also died as a result of unintentional poisoning, a 33 per cent decrease since 2000. Improved product labels may have contributed to this, but there is more work to be done.
Health Systems & Funding
Funding is key to improving access and quality of health systems. In 2015, total official flows for medical research and basic health from all donor countries and multilateral organizations amounted to $9.7 billion, an increase in real terms of 30 per cent since 2010. Of that amount, the member countries of the Development Assistance Committee of OECD contributed $4.3 billion. Despite these seemingly impressive numbers, over 40 per cent of all countries continue to have less than one physician per 1,000 people, and around 50 per cent have fewer than three nurses or midwives per 1,000 people. Almost all developing countries have less than one physician and fewer than three nurses or midwives per 1,000 people.
SDG MEDIA ZONE
The UN Population Fund & Global Health
Investments in health workers, social protection and in the health supply chain are essential for nations to ensure their citizens have access to health care, both physically and fiscally. Providing education on how nutrition, fitness and other habits impact overall health also helps to ensure that people are making better choices for their own health and mitigating unnecessary strain on health services for preventable health concerns.
Sharing Skills To Improve Health Outcomes
Dr. Achidri serves as a United Nations Volunteer (UNV). Having served as a doctor in Uganda for two years and in South Sudan for four years, specializing in health system strengthening and the implementation of HIV and TB programs, Dr. Achidri is now supporting the Ministry of Health of Tuvalu using his skills and expertise in HIV and TB programs to train community-based volunteers.
Trends in Digital Health Technology
Information and communication technologies accelerate progress towards each SDG. Putting healthcare within everyone’s reach, mobile healthcare initiatives help patients manage funds, improve medical diagnoses based on digital data and more to achieve good health and wellbeing.
BUSINESS RESOURCES FOR SDG #3
The private sector needs to be an active global player in order to accelerate progress and address new health challenges. We need to develop healthcare solutions that work for everyone – people, communities and nations – and the private sector has the resources to do so.
Respecting all human life, including the right to health, needs to be the foundation of private sector values; companies of all sizes can both benefit from and contribute to achieving healthy societies. Address health needs around the world by reassessing your products, services and business activities. Evaluate your value chains and distribution networks, health and safety practices and employee benefits policies. Work within your immediate realm of influence: ensuring that your workers are safe and have access to health services is the first step.
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AWARD QUESTIONS FOR SDG #3
1) Media Package
- Program Photographs & Illustrations (Max. 10 Images)
- Detailed Project Description (Max. 500 Words)
- Optional: URL/Link to Supporting Video
2) Financial & Strategic
In order to determine financial performance & potential for scalability, please answer the following questions:
- Please describe how the SDG business initiative is linked to your company’s core competency/competencies.
- Please provide an overview of the business case associated with your SDG business initiative.
- Please provide evidence of planned program expansion over the coming quarters and/or fiscal years.
3) Magnetism & Inspiration
How has your business initiative been a source of magnetism and inspiration? Please provide examples of your company’s influence on each of the following:
- Industry Impact
- Corporate Culture
- Key Stakeholder Groups
4) SDG Impact Metrics
Please describe how has your company has:
- Reduced the rates/incidences by sex, age, or target population for communicable diseases (i.e. – HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Hepatitis, etc).
- Reduced mortality rates by sex, age, or target population (i.e. –Neonatal, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Disease, etc).
- Improved access to sexual and reproductive health-care.
- Improved access to treatment interventions for substance use disorders by sex, age, or target population.
- Improved access to counselling and treatment interventions for adult mental health disorders by sex, age, or target population (i.e. – ADHD/ADD, Anxiety, Bipolar, Depression, Eating Disorders, OCD, Postpartum Depression, PTSD, Schizophrenia, etc).
- Improved access to essential health services and health risk management in developing countries.
- Other KPI (please insert and describe).
OPTIONAL: Please provide a description/overview of 3rd party assurances relating to the verification of the metrics and figures provided above.
EXPLORE THE GLOBAL GOALS
