SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Global civil society report assesses structural obstacles and institutional gaps in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

New York, 8 July 2019: “The world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most governments have failed to turn the transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda into real transformational policies. Even worse, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise in a growing number of countries.”

“The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is not just a matter of better policies. It requires more holistic and more sweeping shifts in how power is vested, including through institutional and governance [...]

By Nicoletta Dentico, Health Innovation in Practice, and Karolin Seitz, Global Policy Forum [fn] An earlier version of this article was published by Misereor, Bread for the World, Health Innovation in Practice (HIP), Global Policy Forum Europe and medico international in October 2018. [/fn]

In the name of a pro-poor agenda, venture philanthropists have played an essential role in tailoring a new narrative around global health and food. The productivist and free-market vision that drives the key players in the [...]

The third edition of the civil society report Spotlight on Sustainable Development states that unpaid care work represents the largest subsidy to the global economy and the main obstacle for women´s economic participation. Care public policies are needed to transform the social organization of care and narrow gender gaps.

By K M Gopakumar, Third World Network (TWN)

A strong and dynamic World Health Organisation (WHO) is critical for the achievement of the SDGs, especially SDG 3 on health and well-being. The WHO constitution mandates the organization "to act as the directing and co-ordinating authority on international health work”. [fn] Constitution of the WHO, Chapter II, Article 2 (a). [/fn] However, its ability to fulfil this mandate is circumscribed by the nature of its financial resources. WHO’s biennial budget for [...]

Uruguay’s National Care System, [fn] For details see: www.sistemadecuidados.gub.uy. [/fn] first put on the policy agenda by civil society organizations (mostly women and feminist organizations), turned out to be a priority on every political party platform in the last national election. The combination of a social demand for the transformation of the social organization of care, together with political will, produced a set of integrated policies in 2015 that aim to build a consistent care system. Its design includes three [...]

By Corina Rodríguez Enríquez, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) [fn] Thanks to Kate Donald and colleagues from the Civil Society Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for thoughtful comments on a draft version. [/fn]

Because of its importance to achieving gender equality, SDG 5 calls for recognition and value of unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within [...]

Addressing environmental and human health risks simultaneously

By the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) [fn] This contribution is based on IPES-Food (2017). [/fn]

Although they are described in different bodies of literature, discussed in different fora, and addressed (if at all) by different policies, a whole range of severe human health risks are closely connected to food system practices – and to each other. Most of these impacts fall under the following five categories:

1.     Occupational hazards: Physical and mental health impacts [...]

By Stefano Prato, Society for International Development, Elenita Daño and Trudi Zundel, ETC Group, Lim Li Ching and Chee Yoke Ling, Third World Network

Food is at the core of the nexus between identities, health, ecology and livelihoods, an intrinsic space where different important dimensions of life converge. Yet, policy discussions and deliberations that impact on food and food systems are often fragmented and incoherent. This chapter explores the close connection between these different domains and offers feasible pathways on [...]

Civil Society activists critique first week of deliberations at High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

New York City, 14 July 2017: With the first week of deliberations at the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development coming to a close this Friday at the UN in New York, civil society activists are criticizing a piecemeal approach to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Especially worrisome to activists is a growing gap between aspirational goals and a lack of proper and comprehensive means of implementation.

On many occasions – during side-events as well [...]

Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017

New York, 10 July 2017: A global coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions presents today the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017. It is published on the opening day of the High Level Political Forum at the United Nations in New York. The report provides the most comprehensive independent assessment of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).