The interconnections between SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) and other SDGs, including SDGs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 13, and how progress on one supports the others

What this dot point is asking

This dot point asks you to explain how SDG 3 connects to other Sustainable Development Goals and to show that the goals are interdependent - progress on one supports progress on others. You must be able to pick a goal, explain the two-way link with health, and use a specific example. Examiners reward students who show the network of connections rather than treating SDG 3 alone.

Why interconnection matters

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were designed as an integrated set, adopted by the United Nations in 2015 to be achieved by 2030. They recognise that health does not improve in isolation - it depends on income, food, education, equality, water and a stable climate. SDG 3 sits at the centre of this web because health both depends on and supports the other goals.

Key interconnections with SDG 3

SDG 1 (No Poverty)

Poverty limits access to food, healthcare, safe housing and clean water, so reducing poverty improves health. In turn, better health lets people work and earn, lifting them out of poverty. The link runs both ways.

SDG 2 (Zero Hunger)

Food security and good nutrition are essential for health, immunity and child development. Ending hunger reduces undernutrition, stunting and disease, advancing SDG 3, while healthy people can work to grow and secure food.

SDG 4 (Quality Education)

Education, especially health literacy and the schooling of girls, leads to healthier choices, lower child mortality and better use of health services. Healthy children, in turn, attend school more and learn more.

SDG 5 (Gender Equality)

When women have equal rights, education and decision-making power, family and child health improve, fertility falls and maternal mortality drops. Good maternal health supports women's full participation, reinforcing gender equality.

SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation)

Safe water and sanitation prevent diarrhoeal and other infectious diseases that kill young children, directly advancing SDG 3. Healthier populations have the capacity to build and maintain water infrastructure.

SDG 13 (Climate Action)

Climate change threatens health through extreme weather, shifting disease patterns and reduced food and water security. Acting on climate protects the environmental foundations of health, while a healthy population can drive climate action.

Using interconnection in the exam

When asked about SDG 3 and another goal, name both goals, explain the mechanism linking them, and where you can, make the link bidirectional - how the other goal supports health and how health supports that goal. Use a concrete example such as girls' education lowering child mortality.

In responses, treat the SDGs as a connected system and use the interdependence to argue why working across sectors achieves more than tackling health alone.