Sustainable Development Goal 3

UN emblem blue
Introduction
The Global goals for Sustainable Development
The United Nations working group submitted a proposal of 17 global goals for sustainable development and 169 targets to the United Nations general assembly in September 2014 These proposed Sustainable Development Goals will be adopted during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25-27 September 2015 at UN headquarters in New York, US
Fig 1 shows the distribution of the global burden of disease in Dalys
Background
Ensure healthy lives and well being for all at all ages
This is sustainable development goal 3 and has nine targets to be achieved by 2030 which focus on maternal health, neonatal and under five health, HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, other communicable diseases, neglected communicable diseases, Non-communicable disease, substance abuse, injuries, mental health, reproductive health, universal health coverage and hazardous chemicals and pollution. Unlike MDG 4,5 and 6 the three health related MDGs that have four targets that focus only on child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS and malaria, SDG 3 is more comprehensive and looks at a wide range of diseases contributing to the global burden of disease. In addition, MDGs mainly focus on developing countries dominated by infectious diseases putting less focus on Developed countries dominated by non-communicable diseases.
Therefore SDG 3 builds on the foundation of MDG 4, 5 and 6, seeking to complete the “unfinished work” of the MDGs and respond to new challenges.
Proposed Targets
These were conceptualized following the UN conference on sustainable development by the open working group which were presented at the 68th session of the UN general assembly
The nine Targets
*3.1 By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births
*3.2 By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births
*3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases
*3.4 By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being
*3.5 Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol
*3.6 By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
*3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes
*3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all
*3.9 By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination
The four sub targets
*3.a Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate
*3.b Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non- communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all
*3.c Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States
*3.d Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks
Transition from health related millennium Development goals to Sustainable Development Goal 3
Maternal health
MDG 5 aimed at reducing maternal mortality ratio by three quarters and since 1990, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 45 percent worldwide, and most of the reduction has occurred since 2000. However the reduction varies between countries and regions but despite the reduction, about 500 women in Sub Sahara Africa are still dying from pregnancy related causes per 100,000 live births. This target was not achieved due to various reasons in different regions.
The SDG 3 target 1 is ambitious and specific aiming at reducing maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. To achieve this by 2030, there is need for middle and low income countries to focus on strengthening health system through training more skilled health personnel, improving infrastructure at health units and access to health care and increasing facility based births to avoid under reporting of mothers who deliver from the communities. However this target may be highly unlikely to be achieved in Sub Saharan Africa by 2030 given the huge inequality gap between the high income countries and low income/collapsed countries in this region.
Neonatal and under five health
Despite population growth in the developing regions, the number of deaths of children under five has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to almost 6 million in 2015 globally. This means that the global under-five mortality rate has declined by more than half, dropping from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2015. This can be attributed mainly to massive immunization of measles with a global coverage of over 84%. The SDG 3 target 2 aims to half the current Under five mortality to 25 deaths per 1,000 live births. The fact that about three quarters of under five deaths occur during the first year of life and more than half of those death occur in the neonatal period, there is need to focus on neonatal mortality as it significantly contributes to the risk of children dying. Health related MDGs did not have a specific target on reducing neonatal mortality by a certain percentage. Therefore it is a good strategy for to focus on interventions that reduce the risks of newborns dying between birth and 28 days of life
HIV/AIDS epidemic
Generally there is a reduction in number of new HIV infections.They fell by approximately 40 per cent between 2000 and 2013 from an estimated 3.5 million cases to 2.1 million. The highest reduction is seen in Southern Africa which has the highest HIV prevalence. 13.6 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally, an immense increase from just 800,000 in 2003. Sustainable development goal target 3 target 3 aims at ending the epidemics of HIV/AIDS,TB, Malaria, neglected tropical diseases, hepatitis and other communicable diseases by 2030. This target is so ambitious and it will require complex multifactorial interventions that focus on reducing; the risk of exposure, efficiency of HIV transmission, understanding and exploring Biological factors plus considering social, political and cultural issues. In addition, good governance and global partnerships (Sustainable development goal 17) in high endemic areas like southern and eastern Africa may afford to initiate ART to all HIV infected that are supposed to be on treatment and eventually this may reduce on the risk of transmission
Neglected tropical diseases
Neglected tropical diseases NTDs thrive mainly among the poorest populations. The 17 NTDs prioritized by WHO are endemic in 149 countries and affect more than 1.4 billion people, costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. Example of NCDs include lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis NTDs were not a key area of focus in the MDGs. They have been specifically added in the third target of the third sustainable development goal.
Non-communicable disease
Non communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 38 million people each year. Almost three quarters of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries leading to a double burden of both communicable and non communicable diseases. Unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, exposure to tobacco smoke or the effects of the harmful use of alcohol increase the risk of NCDs. These diseases do not have a specific target in the health related MDGs but they have beenincluded as the forth target of the third sustainable development goal.
Strategies
The World's Largest Lesson
The world's largest lesson is a global initiative aimed at ensuring that children across the world learn about the new goals in lessons and assemblies and get involved. This is a strategy to ensure that everyone gets to know about the global goals for sustainable development because the more they get to know about them the more successful they become in the next 15 years
Limitations
Ideally the new sustainable development goals should be easy to understand, measurable and with a deadline. On the other hand they should be (i) more comprehensive than the MDGs have been, (ii) correlation sensitive, (iii) outcome-oriented, (iv) specified by indicators, (v) country specific and (vi) realistic while still ambitious. However some SDG 3 targets are not time specific.
As long as inequalities still exist between countries and regions, it may be difficult to achieve the targets in the specified time period
References:

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu