Health and Movement Science-Health-UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

UN - United Nations (An international organisation created after World War II to prevent future conflicts and act on promoting peace, security and build bonds and development among countries all over the world in a collaborative approach).

WHO - World Health Organization (specialised agency of the United Nations that is solely focused on the public health aspect of various countries around the world. The primary goal of WHO is to protect global health and wellbeing).

What are the SDGs?

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

How has the World Health Organization applied a health lens to the SDGs?

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

How has the World Health Organization applied a health lens to the SDGs?

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

How are the SDGs being used in Australia?

Australia has consciously worked with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and built these into a framework to guide national efforts towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Among the various goals, a significant emphasis is placed on Health and Wellbeing as outlined in

SDG 3 - Health and Wellbeing.

SDG 3 aims to promote wellbeing and healthy lives by directly addressing health-related issues such as:

Reducing maternal mortality and child mortality
Ending epidemics like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
Reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases
Strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse
Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services
Achieving universal health coverage.

Australia has used this goal and its targets to serve as an ongoing roadmap to plan and implement new health initiatives. The SDGs align with the determinants of health recognising that health is influenced by a range of factors beyond generic healthcare. SDG’s also recognise poverty, education and housing as can be seen in the the Closing the Gap strategy. This campaign is aimed at addressing the health and life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Its goal is to achieve health equality by improving access to healthcare, address social determinants of health and advocate for indigenous communities.

Australia has also invested resources and funding into several preventative healthcare measures such as:

The National Immunisation Program: This is a free vaccination program that allows all Australians to receive immunisations from birth to adulthood to prevent several illnesses and diseases.
The National Cancer Screening Program: This program focuses on convenient ways to offer Australians screening tests for breast, cervical or bowel cancer.
The National Tobacco Strategy: This strategy aims to reduce smoking rates among the Australian population through packaging, education, advertisement and increasing taxes on sales to encourage current smokers to stop or seek support to quit.

At the forefront of the SDGs, there is a call for universal access to quality and affordable healthcare. Australia is leading accessible healthcare globally through Medicare which provides access to a range of essential healthcare services. Despite reduced or free access to health services, some services still have barriers such as access to mental health services or specialist medical professionals. Australia recognises the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise in maintaining overall health and wellbeing. As a result there are several initiatives that aim to promote healthy lifestyles such as:

The Australian Dietary Guidelines: Guidelines created for all age groups and pregnant women, providing recommendations for daily intake of various food groups.

The Australian Physical Activity Guidelines: Guidelines providing recommendations for minimum physical activity levels for all Australians.

The SDGs acknowledge that achieving good health and wellbeing involves several organisations partnering together and sharing the same goal of building equitable health outcomes. In Australia, different sectors such as non-for profit organisations, the government, independent businesses and non-government organisations partner together to work on improving health. For example:

The Public Health Association of Australia: The peak body of public health who advocate for the health and wellbeing of all Australians by building policies and programs that aim to promote health and wellbeing. The association has over 2000 members that lead the conversation in building healthy public policies for all Australians.

The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association: The peak body for public and non-for-profit hospitals and healthcare providers who work collaboratively with its partnerships to ensure there is an equitable access to healthcare.

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

Australia’s involvement in developing and monitoring the SDGs

What are the opportunities for improving and promoting young people’s health?

Content Point Four

Examine how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being used to improve health

Including:

what are the SDGs?
how has the World Health Organisation applied a health lens to the SDGs?
how are the SDGs being used in Australia?
how could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

NESA Glossary of Key Words:

Examine - Inquire into.

Glossary

SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals.

How could the SDGs be used to promote the health of young people in a local community?

Learning Activities

1. Watch this SDGs video and write a short summary of the overall purpose of the SDGs.

2. Research either The National Immunisation Program, the National Cancer Screening Program, or The National Tobacco Strategy and evaluate how effectively this initiative is meeting SDG 3 in Australia.

3. Using the Progress Chart — SDG Indicators on the SDGs website, review the yearly report for SDG 3. In what ways is Australia tracking to reach the 2030 goals?

4. Select a project from the SDG’s website https://sdgs.un.org/goals and report on the following:

What is the background of the project? Why was it created?

Outline the organisation or business who created the project.

What SDG targets is it aiming to meet and how?
How could this project be implemented in your own community?

5. Propose your own initiative that addresses multiple SDGs (with a focus on 3, 4, 10 or 11).

In your proposal:

Identify your SDG and describe the targets you aim to achieve.
Discuss a relevant policy or framework that supports your project.
Justify a partnership with another organisation that would ideally support this project.