Explain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relevant to health and apply them to a current global health issue and Australia's role

What this sub-topic is asking

NESA wants you to name the SDGs that directly affect health, explain how the SDG framework links health to other domains (poverty, education, gender equity, climate, partnerships), and use a current global health issue plus Australia's role to demonstrate the framework's application.

The answer

The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 global goals adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, with a 2030 target horizon. Health appears explicitly in SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) but is also shaped by almost every other goal because health is a downstream outcome of upstream determinants.

The health-relevant SDGs

SDG 3 : Good health and well-being

Direct health targets: reduce maternal mortality, end preventable child deaths, end epidemics of HIV/TB/malaria/NTDs, reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by one-third, strengthen prevention and treatment of substance abuse, halve global road traffic deaths, achieve universal health coverage, reduce deaths from hazardous chemicals and pollution.

SDG 1 : No poverty

Income is the strongest single determinant of health globally; ending poverty would close most of the global health gap.

SDG 2 : Zero hunger

Nutrition shapes child development, immune function and chronic disease risk.

SDG 4 : Quality education

Maternal education is one of the most consistent predictors of child survival.

SDG 5 : Gender equality

Maternal health, sexual and reproductive health, and freedom from violence are gender-mediated health outcomes.

SDG 6 : Clean water and sanitation

Major driver of diarrhoeal disease in low-income settings.

SDG 10 : Reduced inequalities

Within-country health gaps (the focus of Closing the Gap in Australia) are a direct application.

SDG 13 : Climate action

Climate change is the WHO's single biggest health threat for the 21st century, driving heat-related mortality, vector-borne disease, food insecurity and displacement.

SDG 17 : Partnerships for the goals

Australia's aid and diplomatic engagement (e.g. through DFAT, the Pacific Step-Up, and contributions to global funds) operationalises this goal.

Applying the framework: climate change and Pacific health

The issue

Climate change is reshaping Pacific health: rising sea levels threaten freshwater on low atolls (Kiribati, Tuvalu); warmer ocean temperatures shift fishery distributions, threatening food security; dengue and mosquito-borne disease ranges expand; cyclone intensity rises, with health-system disruption following each event.

Cross-SDG linkages

Tackling Pacific climate-health risk requires action on SDG 13 (climate), SDG 2 (food), SDG 6 (water), SDG 3 (health systems and prevention) and SDG 17 (partnerships). A purely SDG-3 response (more clinics) cannot address upstream drivers.

Australia's role

Australia contributes through bilateral aid, the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership, contributions to the WHO Pacific office, regional support for Non-Communicable Disease programs (Pacific NCD crisis: very high rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Pacific Island Countries), labour mobility schemes (PALM) and climate adaptation infrastructure financing. The 2023 Pacific Engagement Visa and ongoing aid commitments are direct levers.

Limits of the SDG framework

SDGs are voluntary targets, not enforceable obligations. Progress is uneven; the COVID-19 pandemic reversed gains on many SDG-3 indicators. The framework's strength is shared language and accountability, not coercive power.

Examples in context

Example 1. Australia's Pacific Step-Up and the NCD crisis. Pacific Island Countries face the world's highest rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and premature cardiovascular mortality, much of it traceable to a dietary transition from local foods to imported processed food (an SDG 2 / SDG 3 intersection). Australia's Pacific Step-Up provides health workforce capacity building, immunisation support, and assistance with NCD risk-factor surveillance. Programs are coordinated with the WHO Western Pacific Region office. This is the SDG 3 + SDG 17 partnership lever Australia actually exercises and is a clean exam example.

Example 2. Climate change and dengue. The WHO links climate change to expanding dengue distribution in the Pacific and northern Australia. Far North Queensland has had multiple dengue outbreaks over the past decade. The response involves vector control (SDG 3), urban planning to reduce mosquito breeding (SDG 11), water management (SDG 6), and climate mitigation (SDG 13). The single-disease lens (just dengue) misses the cross-goal interactions; the SDG framework forces you to see them.

Try this

Q1. Identify SDG 3 and ONE other SDG directly relevant to global health, and explain the link to health for the second SDG. [3 marks]

• Cue. SDG 3 (Good health and well-being). Other option: SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation - drives diarrhoeal disease burden), SDG 4 (Quality education - maternal education predicts child survival), SDG 13 (Climate action - heat, vector-borne disease, food security).

Q2. Using a named current global health issue, analyse how the SDG framework applies. [6 marks]

• Cue. Climate change and Pacific health: link SDG 3 (NCDs, vector-borne disease), SDG 2 (food security), SDG 6 (water), SDG 13 (climate), SDG 17 (partnerships). Or COVID-19 and the SDG-3 target on epidemics. Or maternal mortality in Pacific Island Countries linking SDG 3 + SDG 5.

Q3. Evaluate Australia's contribution to a chosen SDG-aligned global health issue. [8 marks]

• Cue. Pick a specific Australian instrument (Pacific Step-Up; ASEAN-Australia health cooperation; Australia Pacific Climate Partnership; contributions to Global Fund, Gavi, WHO). Describe what it does, weigh strengths (sustained regional partnership; technical capacity transfer) and limits (budget caps, geopolitical scope, sometimes-tied aid criticism), and reach a calibrated judgement.