SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

Has global humanity ever been more focused on health? The pandemic did it. Sooner or later
health and the pandemic find their way into almost every conversation and dominate the news.
While many of us take health somewhat for granted, COVID19 has burst that bubble and shown
us how fragile health can be.

The lack of decent health affects us in so many ways, limiting our human potential, our ability to
learn and accomplish our goals, and to care adequately for ourselves and loved ones. COVID19
has unmercifully unmasked gaps, in some cases craters, in worldwide healthcare systems. Their
inadequacy is there for all to see: accessibility, coverage and cost issues predominantly. The
lack of healthcare, like so many other issues of social justice, is both a product and a producer of
poverty in our world. Financing for the health of all is not the problem; corporate greed and lack
of political will to address healthcare disparities must be addressed.

It is critical to start from the conviction that Healthcare is a Human Right. Not a privilege for
some, but a necessity—a Human Right—that all should enjoy. And with that right comes the
responsibility to do the common sense things that keep ourselves healthy. We wear masks now
to protect ourselves and because we are only as healthy as the least heathy among us in this ever
more interconnected world. Systemic Change thinking: nothing happens in isolation, everything
is connected to everything else.

SDG3 works to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” and calls for
every nation to prioritize our health and the health of our communities. Although less than half
the global population has access to essential health services, the UN believes that prior to the
pandemic, major progress was made in improving the health of millions of people. Significant
strides were made in increasing life expectancy, reducing some of the common killers associated
with child and maternal mortality, greater control of diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, and
widespread health education learning in general.

Some forward steps towards greater global health and well-being have been reversed by the
onslaught of the pandemic. We must get back on track in this regard because the world we want
depends on healthy people and communities. Along with physical health let’s not forget its
partner mental health, another striking victim of COVID, and support movements to destigmatize
and increase access to mental health practices and resources.

Google the “targets” under SDG3 to see concrete goals to make it happen. Let’s remind people
with whom we converse that Health is a Human Right and never more critical that right now.
Let’s strive to protect our own health and that of those around us. “Health Solidarity” we might
call it. Some might even call it a virtue.

SDG1: NO POVERTY
No poverty?  For real?  For everyone?

Then we can stop here.  Why 16 more goals?  If no poverty, what a fantastic world!
But no.  Poverty encompasses so much, its tentacles reach into so many related issues and problems that are not tangents but causes and results of poverty often at the same time.  Just think about poverty and health, housing, clean water, sanitation, jobs, etc.  And what about climate change and Mother Earth?  If SDG13 (Climate Action) is ignored, why worry about people when the earth might become uninhabitable?  No, the SDGs are about People AND the Planet.
Systemic Change thinkers would remind us: everything is connected to everything else, nothing happens in isolation.
SDG1 (No Poverty) posits a broad objective: “Ensuring that the entire population and especially the poorest and most vulnerable have equal rights to economic resources, access to basic services, property and land control, natural resources and new technologies.”
Ensuring these rights for every human being brings us closer to ensuring justice around the world and challenges us to examine how poverty is intricately linked to many social justice issues from gender inequality to poor education systems to environmental degradation.
When 193 countries signed on to this UN 2030 Agenda, they pledged to create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, with social protection systems and measures, to eradicate poverty.
But still: no poverty.  What an amazing thing to ponder.

In this blog series, let’s explore the meaning of the SDGs, the
Sustainable Development Goals, known as the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for the
People and the Planet. What follows is a brief introduction to the list of 17 goals.
​
In September 2015, 193 countries came together at the United Nations to adopt
and commit to a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle the world’s greatest
challenges related to global sustainable development. The result was the SDGs, a
list of 17 goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.
The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ambitious, but
they are far from unachievable. Still, in order to achieve them, much work must be
done. We must work together, leverage partnerships, analyze systemic issues,
address root causes to these issues, and take action!

These goals allow us, as a global community, to visualize where we want to be by
2030 and the world that we want to live in. By creating these comprehensive goals,
writing them out, and sharing them throughout global societies, we are able to
tangibly encourage social mobilization, create peer pressure among political
leaders, spur networks of expertise, knowledge and practice into action, and
mobilize stakeholder networks across countries, sectors and regions, to come
together for a common purpose: global development and sustainable change. 
As explained by the United Nations, we are living in a crucial time, and with only 9
years left to reach our goals, our priorities must shift, with those in the most
vulnerable positions pushed to the forefront of our agendas. 

The UN website states:
 “With just under ten years left to achieve the Sustainable Development
Goals, world leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of
Action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing,
enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals
by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind. The UN Secretary-
General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three
levels: global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter
solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; local action embedding the
needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and people action, including by youth,
civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other
stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required
transformations.”

Now is the time to get informed about these goals, to spread awareness, and to
take action, especially on the key question: How accelerate their development
during COVID? Your comments and your ideas most welcome as we move
through the 17! Together, we can make great change!
​
Submitted by Jim Claffey
NGO representative of the CM to the UN