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SDG 3: Targets and Indicators

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Target 3.1 By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.

  • Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio
  • Indicator 3.1.2: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Target 3.2 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.

  • Indicator 3.2.1: Under-five mortality rate
  • Indicator 3.2.2: Neonatal mortality rate

Target 3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

  • Indicator 3.3.1: Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations
  • Indicator 3.3.2: Tuberculosis incidence 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

Target 3.4 By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

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

Target 3.5 Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.

  • 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

Target 3.6 By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.

  • Indicator 3.6.1: Death rate due to road traffic injuries

Target 3.7 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.

  • Indicator 3.7.1: Proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods
  • Indicator 3.7.2: Adolescent birth rate (aged 10-14 years; aged 15-19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group

Target 3.8 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.

  • Indicator 3.8.1: Coverage of essential health services (defined as the average coverage of essential services based on tracer interventions that include reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and service capacity and access, among the general and the most disadvantaged population)
  • Indicator 3.8.2: Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income

Target 3.9 By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.

  • Indicator 3.9.1: Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution
  • Indicator 3.9.2: Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene (exposure to unsafe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) services)
  • Indicator 3.9.3: Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning

Target 3.A Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate.

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

Target 3.B 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.

  • 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 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

Target 3.C 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.

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

Target 3.D Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.

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

Sources:

https://www.globalgoals.org/resources

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework%20after%202020%20review_Eng.pdf

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/

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SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

Good health and well-being is surely something we all wish for in our lives, but it is also a global goal since this will inevitably be a sign of a prosperous world.

The aim is to improve reproductive and maternal and child health; end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases; reduce non-communicable and environmental diseases; achieve universal health coverage; and ensure universal access to safe, affordable and effective medicines and vaccines.

Without any doubt, a wide range of ambitious outcomes, towards which world leaders are committed by supporting research and development, increasing health financing, and strengthening the capacity of all countries to reduce and manage health risks.

Health risks are quite broad, including infectious and non-communicable diseases or road traffic deaths. Among the highest priorities on an global scale we still find maternal and child mortality rates.

Maternal mortality

Between the years 2000 and 2015, the global maternal mortality ratio, or number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, declined by 37 per cent, to an estimated ratio of 216 per 100,000 live births in 2015. The target established in the 2030 Agenda is 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Almost all maternal deaths occur in low-resource settings and can be prevented, being one important factor the assistance of skilled health-care personnel. Another essential factor is the access to appropriate sexual and reproductive health services, and thus preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing adolescent childbearing.

Childbearing in adolescence has steadily declined in almost all regions, but wide disparities persist: in 2015, the birth rate among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 ranged from 7 births per 1,000 girls in Eastern Asia to 102 births per 1,000 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Worldwide, in 2015, approximately 3 in 4 women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years of age) who were married or in union satisfied their need for family planning by using modern contraceptive methods; in Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania, however, the share was less than half.

Child mortality

Under-five mortality rates fell rapidly from 2000 to 2015, declining by 44% globally. Nevertheless, an estimated 5.9 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015, with a global under-five mortality rate of 43 per 1,000 live births.

The neonatal mortality rate, that is, the likelihood of dying in the first 28 days of life, declined from 31 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 19 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. Over that period, progress in the rate of child survival among children aged 1 to 59 months outpaced advances in reducing neonatal mortality; as a result, neonatal deaths now represent a larger share (45 per cent) of all under-five deaths.

What does this mean and what does it look like?

Sub-Saharan Africa is again one of the most vulnerable regions in this case. Above I stated that the global maternal mortality ratio declined to an estimated ratio of 216 per 100,000 live births in 2015. The estimated number for the country we will get to know next was 1,150 in the year 2017. As for neonatal mortality (globally: 19 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015), the estimation is 90.4.

The country with these tremendous figures is South Sudan.

The major complications that account for most of the maternal deaths are severe bleeding, infections, complications from delivery or unsafe abortion. The remainder are caused by or associated with infections such as malaria or related to chronic conditions like cardiac diseases or diabetes.

As for maternal and child mortality, there exists an additional risk in this country: the consequences of its civil war. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and is thus a very young country. However this independence was preceded and followed by civil war. According to UNICEF, 2.4 million children have been forced to flee their homes, more than 250,000 children could starve to death by July if they do not get the aid they need to survive, and over 19,000 children have been recruited into the conflict.

You will probably have no problem in finding heart-wrenching images on the global web regarding this situation. But I would like you to accompany me on the journey to discover this country and its people from the perspective of resilience.

One is related to the history of the tribes that have inhabited the area for thousands of years and their relationship with their cattle.

And then there is the story of Emmanuel Jal, a child soldier in the 1990s, who turned his past into the mission to spread peace as a recording artist.

You can either listen to his TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/emmanuel_jal_the_music_of_a_war_child

Or to the song of his campaign “We want peace”.

Sources:

https://www.indexmundi.com/south_sudan/maternal_mortality_rate.html

https://www.indexmundi.com/south_sudan/infant_mortality_rate.html

South Sudan’s Civil War Puts 250,000 Children at ‘Imminent Risk of Death’