Sustainable Development Goal 3

SDG 3 logo

Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Goal 3 or SDG 3) is about "Good Health and Well-being" and is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages".

Goal 3 aims to achieve universal health coverage, including access to essential medicines and vaccines. It proposes to end the preventable death of newborns and children under 5 and to end epidemics such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and water-borne diseases, for example. 2016 rates for the third dose of the pertussis vaccine (DTP3) and the first dose of the measles vaccine (MCV1) reached 86 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

Good health is essential to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. It focuses on broader economic and social inequalities, urbanisation, threats to climate, continuing burden of HIV and other infectious diseases, not forgetting emerging challenges such as noncommunicable diseases.

Background

Ensuring that every child survives and thrives hinges on a combination of high-impact interventions – including quality antenatal, delivery and postnatal care for mothers and their newborns, prevention of mother-to transmission of HIV, immunization to protect children from infectious diseases and access to adequate and nutritious food.

Immunization averts an estimated 2 million-3 million deaths every year. In 2016, global coverage rates for the third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3) and the first dose of measles containing vaccine (MCV1) reached 86 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively, up from 72 per cent for each in 2000. Despite this increased coverage: About 20 million children did not receive three doses of DTP and about 21 million missed the first dose of MCV.

Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common causes of child and maternal mortality. Between 2000 and 2016, the worldwide under-five mortality rate decreased by 47 percent (from 78 deaths per 1,000 live births to 41 deaths per 1,000 live births). Still, the number of children dying under age five is extremely high: 5.6 million in 2016 alone.

Attention to health and well-being also includes targets related to the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, deaths and injuries from traffic accidents and from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.

An annual report is prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations evaluating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Targets, indicators and progress

The UN has defined 13 Targets and 28 Indicators for SDG 3. The UN defined defined 13 Targets and 28 Indicators for SDG 3. The main data source and maps for the indicators for SDG 3 come from Our World in Data’s SDG Tracker. The targets cover a wide of issues including reduction of maternal mortality (target 3.1), ending all preventable deaths under 5years of age (3.2), fight communicable diseases (3.3), ensure reduction of mortality from non-communicable diseases and promote mental health (3.4), prevent and treat substance abuse (3.5), reduce road injuries and deaths (3.6), grant universal access to sexual and reproductive care, family planning and education (3.7), achieve universal health coverage (3.8), reduce illnesses and deaths from hazardous chemicals and pollution (3.9), implement the WHO framework convention on tobacco control (3.a), support research, development and universal access to affordable vaccines and medicines (3.b), increase health financing and support health workforce in developing countries (3.C) and improve early warning systems for global health risks (3.D).

Target 3.1: Reduce maternal mortality

• Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio. The maternal mortality ratio refers to the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births.
• Indicator 3.1.2: Percentage of births attended by personnel trained to give the necessary supervision, care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period; to conduct deliveries on their own; and to care for newborns

Maternal mortality ratio

The unequal status of women and girls, lack of decision making powers, knowledge and finances remain underlying causes for the inability or delay in care seeking.Which ends up increasing maternal mortality rates.

Target 3.2: End all preventable deaths under 5 years of age

• Indicator 3.2.1: Under-5 mortality rate. The under-5 mortality rate measures the number of children per 1,000 live births who die before their 5th birthday.
• Indicator 3.2.2: Neonatal mortality rate. Neonatal mortality rate is defined as the share of newborns per 1,000 live births in a given year who die before reaching 28 days of age.

Globally, the risk for children dying before age 5 was reduced by 44 per cent since 2000, reaching 43 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Still a large number of preventable deaths remain, with about 16,000 children under the age of five dying every day in 2015.

The neonatal mortality rate declined from 31 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 19 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Though neonatal mortality is decreasing, its proportion of the global under-five mortality is increasing, signalling a need to ramp up focus on antenatal care programs.

Target 3.3: Fight communicable diseases

• Indicator 3.3.1: Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population
• Indicator 3.3.2: Tuberculosis per 100,000 population
• Indicator 3.3.3: Malaria incidence per 1,000 population
• Indicator 3.3.4: Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population
• Indicator 3.3.5: Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases

Progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation and on reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. From 2000–2016, new HIV infections declined by 66 percent for children under 15 and by 45 percent among adolescents aged 15–19. However, current trends mean that 1 out of 4 countries still won't meet the SDG target to end AIDS among children under 5, and 3 out of 4 will not meet the target to end AIDS among adolescents.

Overall, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among women aged between 15 and 49 years as approximately 1800 young people being newly infected with HIV every day. This underscores the importance of ensuring that young people can fully exercise their rights to access sexual and reproductive health and HIV information.

In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases (1 million of which were under age 15) , corresponding to 142 cases per 100 000 population, malaria incidence rate was 91 per 1000 persons at risk, representing a 41% decrease globally between while deaths attributed to hepatitis are estimated to be around 1.3 million.

Target 3.4: Reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases and promote mental health

• Indicator 3.4.1: Mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease
• Indicator 3.4.2: Suicide mortality rate

Deaths caused by the four main NCDs were 17.7 million from cardiovascular diseases, 8.8 million from cancers, 3.9 million from chronic respiratory diseases, and 1.6 million from diabetes. The risk of dying from the four main NCDs between ages 30 and 70 decreased from 23% in 2000 to 19% in 2015

Mortality from CVD, Cancer, Diabetes or CRD Between Exact ages 30 and 70 (%)

Target 3.5: Prevent and treat substance abuse

• Indicator 3.5.1: Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders
• Indicator 3.5.2: Harmful use of alcohol, defined according to the national context as alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol

In 2016, worldwide consumption of alcohol was projected to be 6.4 litres per person aged 15 and older. Consumption is increasing in the Western Pacific and South East Asia regions, while remaining relatively stable in others. The available data is inadequate and much further work is needed to improve the measurement of treatment coverage for alcohol and drug use disorders.

Target 3.6: Reduce road injuries and deaths

• Indicator 3.6.1: Death rate due to road traffic injuries

Between 2000 and 2013 number of road traffic deaths globally increased by approximately 13%.The risk of a road traffic death varies significantly by region.

Target 3.7: Universal access to sexual and reproductive care, family planning and education

• Indicator 3.7.1: Percentage of married women ages 15-49 years whose need for family planning is satisfied with modern methods of contraception
• Indicator 3.7.2: Adolescent birth rate (aged 10–14 years; aged 15–19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group

Half of women in developing countries have received the health care they need, and the need for family planning is increasing exponentially as the population grows. While needs are being addressed gradually, more than 225 million women have an unmet need for contraception. There is a slight increase in the proportion of women of reproductive age who were married or in-union who had access to modern family planning methods, from 74.5% in 2000 to 76.7% in 2017. In 2017, an estimated 13 million births will be to girls under age 20 with almost 1.8 billion adolescents and youth globally, investing in their health and well-being is essential to achieve the 2030 agenda.

Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage

• Indicator 3.8.1: Coverage of essential health services
• Indicator 3.8.2: Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income

Through the lens of leaving no-one behind, UHC includes migrants and refugees, many of whom may not have legal status or are unaccounted, in financial risk protection schemes and access to equitable health services.

Target 3.9: Reduce illnesses and deaths from hazardous chemicals and pollution

• Indicator 3.9.1: Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution
• Indicator 3.9.2: Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, sanitation, and lack of hygiene
• Indicator 3.9.3: Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning

Household air pollution is estimated to cause half of all pneumonia deaths Among children under age 5. The global mortality rate from unintentional poisonings decreased by 33% between the years 2000 and 2015, but still causes 108 000 deaths annually.

Deaths - ambient ozone pollution - sex: both - age-standardised (rate)

Target 3.a: Implement the WHO framework convention on tobacco control

• Indicator 3.A.1: age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has been ratified by 180 Parties representing 90% of the global population. More than 80% of Parties have either adopted new or strengthened their existing tobacco control laws and regulations.

Target 3.b: Support research, development and universal access to affordable vaccines and medicines

• Indicator 3.B.1: Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme
• Indicator 3.B.2: Total net official development assistance (ODA) to medical research and basic health sectors
• Indicator 3.B.3: Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis

The current landscape of health research and development (R&D) is insufficiently aligned with global health demands and needs. As little as 1% of all funding for health R&D is allocated to diseases that are predominantly incident in developing countries.

Target 3.C: Increase health financing and support health workforce in developing countries

• Indicator 3.C.1: Health worker density and distribution

The joint ITU/WHO initiative “Be Healthy Be Mobile” utilizes mobile technology to help countries combat growing burden of non-communicable diseases by bringing mobile health services to scale within national health systems and providing technical expertise on implementing mobile health interventions.

Target 3.D: Improve early warning systems for global health risks

• Indicator 3.D.1: International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity and health emergency preparedness

The 2016 IHR review process acknowledged the need to include migration and mobile populations in epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response plans. Pandemic preparedness and global health security requires across the board upscaling of IHR implementation.

International health regulations (IHR) capacity, by the type of IHR capacity (%) - SH_IHR_CAPS - laboratory

Monitoring

Invest in multi-stakeholder partnerships to remove barriers to equitable health services which are responsive to increasingly diverse population health needs, and to reach those most further behind first is essential for The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Strong commitment by UN Member States and the international community to ensuring good health and wellbeing is achieved is therefore emphasised. High-level progress reports for all the SDGs are published in the form of reports by the United Nations Secretary General with a recent UN's High Level Political Forum thematic review of SDG 3.

Links with other SDGs

Goal 3 is interwoven throughout the 2030 Agenda, with its targets directly linking to targets in other goals. Among these are 2.2 (end all forms of malnutrition) 4.1 (free, equitable and good-quality secondary education), 4.2 (good-quality early childhood development), 4.7 (knowledge and skills for sustainable development), 5.2 (eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in the public and private spheres), 5.3 (eliminate all harmful practices, including female genital mutilation), 5.6 (universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights), 6.1(access to drinking water), 6.2 (access to sanitation), 7.1 (access to modern energy services), 9.5 (enhance scientific research /increase number of R&D workers), 11.6 (air quality and municipal waste), 13.1 (resilience to natural disasters), and 16.1 (reduce violence and related death rates).

Organisations

Organisations dedicated to good health and wellbeing realisation include:

• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS
• Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
• World Bank
• World Health Organization (WHO)