Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, are part of a comprehensive agenda framing global sustainable development up to 2030. The SDGs build upon and extend the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): they tackle the MDGs’ “unfinished business” by continuing the fight against poverty and hunger, but also focus on human rights for all, and on the empowerment of women and girls as part of the push to achieve gender equality. They integrate all 3 dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) around the themes of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.

The SDGs, which are underpinned by 169 targets, recognize that eradicating poverty and inequality, creating inclusive economic growth, and preserving the planet are inextricably linked not only to each other but also to population health, and that the relationships between each of these elements are dynamic and reciprocal.

The 2030 Agenda is a bold call for action, setting out a vision and principles for sustainable development in the coming decade. The 2030 Agenda was adopted in 2015 at the United Nations summit in New York, United States of America, through United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/1 “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. It entered into force on 1 January 2016.

Through its goals, targets, indicators and mechanisms for follow-up and review, the 2030 Agenda has an unprecedented scope: in tackling all sectors and addressing the 3 pillars of sustainable development, it covers all social, environmental and economic determinants of health.

The 2030 Agenda is integrated and indivisible. Progress in one area is related to progress in other areas. Health targets are therefore distributed across all SDGs, and the integrated nature of the SDGs provides new legitimacy for addressing the wider determinants of health.

It is also inclusive, aiming to leave no one behind. It has a focus on equity and on reaching all people, including those who are hardest to access. This focus on equity is distributed across all SDGs and reflected by the need for disaggregated measures.

Finally, the 2030 Agenda is global in nature and universally applicable – it is relevant to all countries, both developed and developing, with common but differentiated responsibilities. Goals and targets take into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development. Each government is asked to set its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances.

The range of topics covered in the SDGs reflects the range of issues that a government faces on the ground, and addresses all health determinants. This means that achieving the SDGs requires work across sectors. The 2030 Agenda has a focus on monitoring, evaluation and accountability – this key feature for achieving equity and leaving no one behind also puts greater emphasis on country and regional follow-up and review processes as the basis for accountability and remedial action.

The 2030 Agenda provides for strong political commitment to public health. It states that “To promote physical and mental health and well-being, and to extend life expectancy for all, we must achieve universal health coverage and access to quality health care. No one must be left behind.”

Health and well-being for all at all ages are at the centre of sustainable development – as determinants and enablers of the SDGs, and as outcomes.

The 2030 Agenda sets out universal health coverage as an overarching theme and places greater emphasis on interaction with the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Health is positioned as a major contributor to other SDGs: without health many other SDGs cannot be achieved and, at the same time, health benefits from progress towards the other SDGs. Across all SDGs there are over 20 health targets (see Annex link below). To achieve the SDG health targets, countries in the WHO European Region can capitalize on their work to implement the Health 2020 framework, whose areas and targets are consistent with those of the SDGs.

Yes. Goal 3 is dedicated to health and aims to “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. Its 13 targets – 9 health targets and 4 targets on the means of implementation – reflect most of the health priorities of the WHO European Region.

Some of the targets follow from the unfinished Millennium Development Goal agenda; others are important health priorities and objectives of Health 2020, the European policy framework for health and well-being, and are addressed in many of WHO/Europe’s committal documents. These address, for example, noncommunicable diseases, mental health, risk factors, nutrition, road traffic accidents, environmental pollution, health services, health financing, the health workforce and research.

The SDGs have a vast reach, touching on almost every area of health, society, the economy, the environment and security. Multistakeholder partnerships are an important component of strategies that seek to mobilize all stakeholders around this new agenda. Their implementation has been carefully structured so that progress can more easily be monitored.

Each of the 17 SDGs contains targets that will guide countries wanting to see and monitor change. Goal 3 on health and well-being, for example, has 10 targets. Each target has between 1 and 3 indicators to measure progress. In total across all the SDGs, 304 indicators will measure compliance.

Goal 17 is dedicated to the global partnership for sustainable development, and calls for the strategic mobilization and use of resources. This means working on many fronts, from sustainable development, trade and technology to capacity-building, monitoring and reporting.

The SDG Health Price Tag is a model that estimates the financial investments needed to strengthen health systems in order to reach the SDG health targets by 2030. It provides a general estimate, and is not prescriptive for what countries should spend. It shows the areas in which major investments are needed and forecasts the extent to which different countries can afford them.

In creating the SDG Health Price Tag, WHO analysed existing databases in 67 countries across the world to assess country data on disease burden, health service coverage and health system performance. It grouped countries into 5 categories in terms of their health systems and financial capacity.

Commitment to the SDGs is intensifying the need for strengthened national and subnational systems for integrated monitoring, including of health programmes and performance. Maintaining momentum towards the SDGs is only possible if countries have the political will and the capacity to prioritize regular, timely and reliable data collection to guide policy decisions and public health interventions.

The 2030 Agenda acknowledges the potential for reporting overburden and recommends that follow-up and review of SDG implementation build on existing reporting mechanisms.

However, as the SDGs make clear, no one must be left behind – and national averages alone do not make it easy or even possible to ensure that every segment of society is reached. Therefore, progress towards the SDGs needs to be measured in a more disaggregated way to capture variations among different population groups.

SDG indicators might therefore be disaggregated by parameters such as income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability or geographic location. To facilitate this, the United Nations Statistical Commission is developing an indicator framework through the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators.

Follow-up and review processes at all levels are voluntary and country-led, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development. National reviews will be the basis for regional and global reviews. At the global level, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development plays a central role in overseeing follow-up and review processes under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

WHO will actively support Member States in reporting on the SDG health targets (see also Question 11 for specific reference to the WHO European Region). The report “World health statistics 2018: monitoring health for the SDGs” focuses on the health and health-related SDGs and associated targets by bringing together data on a wide range of health-related SDG indicators.

The effective monitoring of SDG indicators requires comprehensive national health information strategies based on the use of data from sources such as civil registration and vital statistics systems, household and other population-based surveys, routine health-facility reporting systems and health-facility surveys, administrative data systems, and surveillance systems. Some indicators also rely on non-health-sector data sources.

This is an enormous task, but it is critical to maintaining momentum and guiding action to achieve the SDGs.

Commitment to the 2030 Agenda could increase countries’ burden of reporting. WHO/Europe is working to support Member States in optimizing their reporting efforts through the development of a joint monitoring framework, coordinated by the European Health Information Initiative.

This framework will provide the basis for measuring the WHO European Region’s performance in implementing the 2030 Agenda and evaluating whether policies are having their intended impact. Further work will also tackle complex, subjective concepts that are integral to Health 2020 and the 2030 Agenda, such as well-being.

Mapping and assessing national implementation reporting to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development provides a means of positioning health and well-being as integral to the national response to the 2030 Agenda, and of linking it to other global agendas.

In support of Member States, WHO/Europe plans to publish its first status report in 2019. It will be structured according to the health-related SDG and targets, and made accessible through digital channels. This will be followed by a biennial thematic report.

Health 2020, the European policy framework for health and well-being, fully aligns with the 2030 Agenda. Both aim to improve health and well-being for all at all ages through whole-of-government, whole-of-society and health-in-all-policies approaches. Both tackle the social, economic, cultural and environmental determinants of health.

The 2030 Agenda offers new momentum for the implementation of Health 2020. It presents a unique opportunity to renew national commitments to advancing health and well-being in the WHO European Region. It has a strong emphasis on leaving no one behind.

The implementation of the SDGs also requires a review of regional priorities, and an alignment of national development and health policies and policy coherence across multiple goals. It also has a stronger focus on governance and intersectoral action for health.

Strengthening the means of implementation, including through stronger public health capacities, more partnerships, increased financing for health, innovation, further research, and enhanced monitoring and accountability, will support the achievement of both Health 2020 and the SDGs.

The SDGs are guiding WHO/Europe’s work with its 53 Member States, 29 of whom host WHO country offices. SDG implementation is a responsibility of Member States. By providing tailored support to governments as they integrate the SDGs into their national development plans and policies, WHO/Europe helps to ensure that joined-up policy planning and implementation work across sectors, across age groups and across income groups, and are fully monitored so that progress can be measured.

We do not do this alone. Achieving the SDGs requires the partnership of governments, the private sector, civil society and citizens alike to make sure we create a better future for the next generation.

At subregional and national levels, WHO/Europe is facilitating the mainstreaming of the SDGs into the activities of countries, networks, initiatives and partners. It directly supports countries in promoting more collaborative work across government sectors; mainstreaming health in development policies, including a focus on equity in health policies; advocating for the efficient use of domestic and private financing for health and well-being; and highlighting the role of international public financing.

Member States’ monitoring and reporting are also supported through a number of initiatives, health information networks and evidence-informed policy networks. The SDGs have been fully incorporated into WHO/Europe’s country cooperation strategies and bilateral collaborative agreements.

In countries where the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) processes are in place, WHO/Europe is working together with United Nations resident coordinators, United Nations country teams and other United Nations agencies to provide coordinated support to governments.

At the regional level, WHO collaborates with other United Nations agencies and has agreed a common regional United Nations position and approach along with a platform for the exchange of information. WHO/Europe leads the Issue-Based Coalition on Health and Well-being (IBC-Health), established to facilitate and promote regional implementation of Goal 3 and the health-related targets. WHO/Europe is also a member of the Regional Working Group on Gender, which supports implementation of Goal 5 on gender equality. These coalitions report to the United Nations Regional Coordination Mechanism for Europe and Central Asia.

The SDGs are interconnected and cut across sectors. As such, they provide an ideal basis on which governments can break down silos through collaboration with partners.

WHO/Europe is well placed to bring a wide range of actors together in pursuit of the SDGs. The long-standing collaboration between health and environmental sectors has produced significant results. The European Environment and Health Process has successfully taken a multisectoral approach to addressing the environmental determinants of health, which account for up to 20% of the WHO European Region’s preventable disease burden. The Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP), undertaken in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), is another example of excellent intersectoral collaboration.

WHO/Europe supports Member States in their intersectoral work on health and health equity through documenting, understanding, and drawing lessons from both well established and new practices and initiatives. A mapping exercise of intersectoral action in the Region is currently ongoing to produce an analytical framework to facilitate this work.