The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs, also known as the Global Goals) are 17 goals with 169 targets that all UN Member States have agreed to work towards achieving by the year 2030.
They set out a vision for a world free from poverty, hunger and disease.
Health has a central place in SDG 3 “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”, underpinned by 13 targets that cover a wide spectrum of WHO’s work.
Almost all of the other 16 goals are related to health or their achievement will contribute to health indirectly.
The SDGs aim to be relevant to all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the environment and tackling climate change. They have a strong focus on improving equity to meet the needs of women, children and disadvantaged populations in particular so that “no one is left behind”.
This agenda builds on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were 8 goals that UN Member States signed in September 2000 to achieve targets to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women by 2015.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is a broad term to describe policies, projects and investments that provide benefits today without sacrificing environmental, social and personal health in the future. These policies are often described as green because they focus on limiting the impact of development on the environment. However, the benefits of sustainable development are also felt across a wide cross section of human health and well-being, including reductions in pollution- and environment-related disease, improved health outcomes and decreased stress.
As the threats of climate change become increasingly important, win-win strategies for mitigation, health improvement and cost savings offer a range of advantages for various stakeholders. For example, greener health care operations can generate patient and worker health benefits while also saving energy, mitigating climate risks and creating long-term cost savings. The World Health Organization is committed to pursuing sustainable development in all its work to help protect the people of tomorrow from the health growing health risks of today
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