Goal 3: Good health and well-being (2024)

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all

Since the creation of the Millennium Development Goals there have been historic achievements in reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and tackling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. In 15 years, the number of people newly infected by HIV each year has dropped from 3.1 million to 2 million and over 6.2 million lives were saved from malaria. Since 1990, maternal mortality fell by 45 percent, and worldwide there has been an over 50 percent decline in preventable child deaths globally.

Despite this incredible progress, AIDS is the leading cause of death among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, and 22 million people living with HIV are not accessing life-saving antiretroviral therapy. New HIV infections continue to rise in some locations and in populations that are typically excluded or marginalised.

Chronic and catastrophic disease remains one of the main factors that push households from poverty into deprivation. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) impose a large burden on human health worldwide. Currently, 63% of all deaths worldwide stem from NCDs – chiefly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. The cumulative economic losses to low- and middle-income countries from the four diseases are estimated to surpass US$ 7 trillion by 2025. Additionally, there continues to be underinvestment in the social circ*mstances and environmental factors affecting health. The job on HIV and health is far from done.

Recognizing the interdependence of health and development, theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an ambitious, comprehensiveplan of action for people, planet and prosperity and for ending the injustices that underpin poor health and development outcomes.

SDG 3 aspires to ensure health and well-being for all, including a bold commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and othercommunicable diseases by 2030. It also aims to achieve universal health coverage, and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines for all. Supporting research and development for vaccines is an essential part of this process as well as expanding access to affordable medicines.

Promoting health and well-being is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals.

Learn more about the targets for Goal 3.

Child health

• In 2018 an estimated 6.2 million children and adolescents under the age of 15 years died, mostly from preventable causes. Of these deaths, 5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost half of these in the first month of life.
• Despite determined global progress, an increasing proportion of child deaths are in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Four out of every five deaths of children under age five occur in these regions.
• Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more than 15 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than children in high income countries.
• Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria. Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45per cent of deaths in children under-5 years of age.

Maternal health

• Over 40 per cent of all countries have fewer than 10 medical doctors per 10,000 people; over 55 per cent of countries have fewer than 40 nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 people.
• In Eastern Asia, Northern Africa and Southern Asia, maternal mortality has declined by around two-thirds.
• Every day in 2017, approximately 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
• 94per cent of all maternal deaths occur in low and lower middle-income countries.
• Young adolescents (ages 10-14) face a higher risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than other women.
• But maternal mortality ratio – the proportion of mothers that do not survive childbirth compared to those who do – in developing regions is still 14 times higher than in the developed regions.

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

• 38 million people globally were living with HIV in 2019.
• 25.4 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2019.
• 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2019.
• 690 000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2019.
• 75.7 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.
• 32.7 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.
• Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one in three AIDS-related deaths.
• Globally, adolescent girls and young women face gender-based inequalities, exclusion, discrimination and violence, which put them at increased risk of acquiring HIV.
• HIV is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age worldwide.
• AIDS is now the leading cause of death among adolescents (aged 10–19) in Africa and the second most common cause of death among adolescents globally.
• Over 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted between 2000 and 2015, primarily of children under five years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. The global malaria incidence rate has fallen by an estimated 37 per cent and the mortality rates by 58 per cent.

• By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births

• 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

• By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases

• By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being

• Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol

• By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents

• 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

• 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

• By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination

• Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate

• Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and noncommunicable 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

• 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

• Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks

World Health Organization

WHO – Reducing Child Mortality

UN Children’s Fund

UN Development Programme

UNAIDS

Roll Back Malaria

UN Population Fund

UN Women

UN Water

Stop Tuberculosis Partnership

UNFPA HIV & AIDS

UNFPA Sexual & reproductive health

UNFPA Obstetric fistula

UNFPA Midwifery

UNFPA Maternal health