Critical Analysis of the Sustainable Goals (SDGs): Global Health

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are successors of the Millennium development goals (MDGs). Initiated in 2016, SDGs are a global reference for UN members in making political and development plans till 2030 (Ford, 2015). Even after the set deadline for MDG, many people still live below the poverty level, lack food to eat, there are still maternal deaths during childbirth, and many are still fighting for their rights (Ford, 2015). This article aims to summarize three SDGs, analyze and discuss their impact on global health.
Summary of three of the SDGs
The UN has developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals with 169 targets. Three of the goals include:
End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Ending poverty and all its forms everywhere is the first SDG. The goal’s targets focus on people living below the poverty level of $1.25 a day. It aims at covering the poor and vulnerable through the provision of balanced access to economic resources, property ownership, and access to new technologies and financial services. By 2030, the SDG postulates that there will be a significant mobilization of resources through development programs, especially in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that will establish measures to eliminate poverty (UN, 2016). However, special efforts should be made to isolate interactions with other SDGs to avoid potential duplication of activities in poverty management and environmental conservation (ICSU & ISSC, 2015). Despite the fact that the objectives are reasonable for poverty eradication, advance specifications are needed to ensure joint efforts of provision of basic income and social protection, and justifiable means of revenue creation and dissemination, and also employment and insurance (ICSU & ISSC, 2015).
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
The second SDG entails achieving zero hunger around the member states. The goal aims at ending hunger by ensuring that all people have access to safe and nutritious food all year round. By 2025, the goal targets at achieving the internationally agreed objectives of ending malnutrition challenges in children under five years of age. Additionally, nutritional requirements among young girls, expectant mothers, and feeding mothers as well as the elderly will be addressed. On agriculture, the goal is focused on providing equal access to land, inputs, knowledge and opportunities for value addition to small-scale food producers in the effort of increasing productivity and income by 2030. Also, the goal aims at achieving and maintaining genetic diversity in domesticated animals and crop seeds at diversified national, regional and international plant banks. The goal also provides for cooperative agricultural research and extension services and elimination of trade restrictions in the world agricultural market. Limiting extreme food price volatility will be achieved by adaptation of measures that will ensure the implementation of measures to monitor commodity markets and their derivatives with the provision of timely market information (UN, 2016). The achievement of this goal couples natural, social and economic process, making it a challenge. The formulated policies should lay more emphasis on small-scale producers. The identified targets are concentrated on improving sustainable agriculture leading to an imbalance in the provision of better nutrition. Trade-offs with environmentally focused goals are likely to emerge, making indicators for sustainable agriculture difficult to process (ICSU & ISSC, 2015).

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all of all ages
The third SDG entails the provision of good health and well-being. The goal is formulated to reduce and ensure that the maternal mortality ratio reaches 70% per 10,000 births on a global scale. The goal aims to end the avertable deaths of infants and kids below five years of age. AIDS, TB, and malaria and other illnesses, as well as, waterborne and communicable disease are to be monitored and eradicated by 2030. The SDG also aims at improving mental health, substance abuse, deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals, and deaths and injuries from road accidents. Additionally, the third SDG goal aims at ensuring access to sexual and reproductive medial services, quality essential health care, and health financing. Other targets are focused on improving health research and vaccine development as well as strengthening the enactment of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco control in member states (UN, 2016). Healthcare provision is related to other aspects of the economy as an input or as a consequence of economic activity. Hence, some of the targets under this goal should be consolidated with targets on other related SDGs. The goal also lacks some important social determinants that influence the health of people in member states such as the global food system, the built environments, education and employment conditions. Considerations should be made to integrate the targets with those other goals that would reduce fragmentation and create a consolidated approach toward health (ICSU & ISSC, 2015).
Relationship of identified goals to global health
All SDGs are a contribution and beneficial aspect regarding health sustainable development policies (WHO, 2016). The influence on health is not only focused on saving lives but also on creating healthier communities and promoting well-being throughout the world. According to WHO (2016), the trend that determines the risks and impacts on heal...