SDG 3 at the intersection of all SDGs

SDGs are complex interlinked goals which complement each other. Failure to progress on one goal hinders progress on others. SDG 3 is one of the goals that clearly illustrates the interlinkage of the SDGs. In addition, all the 16 goals are closely related to health, or their achievement contributes to health indirectly. The SDG 3 targets do not entirely address social determinants of health. However, these are covered in other goals such as ending poverty (SDG1), providing access to education (SDG4), achieving gender equity (SDG5), reducing inequality between and within countries (SDG10), promoting peace (SDG16) as well as food security and agricultural production (SDG2), decent work (SDG8), sustainable consumption (SDG12), provision of water and sanitation (SDG6) and access to energy (SDG7). Therefore, as leaders and policy makers work towards developing frameworks aimed at achieving the targets in SDG 3, they should consider the crosslinks between the goals. In addition, these should be attained sustainably.

Additional reading material

Waage, J., Yap, C., Bell, S., Levy, C., Mace, G., Pegram, T., Unterhalter, E., Dasandi, N., Hudson, D., Kock, R. and Mayhew, S., 2015. Governing the UN Sustainable Development Goals: interactions, infrastructures, and institutions. The Lancet Global Health, 3(5), pp.e251-e252.
Whitmee, S., Haines, A., Beyrer, C., Boltz, F., Capon, A.G., de Souza Dias, B.F., Ezeh, A., Frumkin, H., Gong, P., Head, P. and Horton, R., 2015. The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. Lancet, 386(10007), pp.1973-2028.
Howden-Chapman, P., Siri, J., Chisholm, E., Chapman, R., Doll, C.N. and Capon, A., 2017. SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. A guide to SDG interactions: from science to implementation. Paris, France: International Council for Science, pp.81-126.