How do the Sustainable Development Goals aim to improve health and human development?
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing, and how the goals are interconnected and promote health and human development globally
VCE HHD Unit 4 AoS 2 on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the focus on SDG 3, and how the goals interconnect to promote global health.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point asks you to explain the Sustainable Development Goals, describe SDG 3 in detail, and show how the goals connect to one another to promote health and human development. Application questions usually ask you to link two or more goals.
What the SDGs are
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals adopted by United Nations member countries in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. They build on the earlier Millennium Development Goals and apply to every country, not only low-income ones.
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, balancing social, economic and environmental sustainability.
SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing
SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. Its targets include reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality, ending epidemics of major communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, reducing deaths from non-communicable diseases, strengthening prevention and treatment of substance abuse, and achieving universal health coverage.
How the SDGs promote health and human development
By targeting the underlying determinants of health - poverty, hunger, education, water, gender equality, decent work and reduced inequality - the SDGs address the conditions that shape health rather than treating illness alone. This mirrors the social model of health on a global scale.
When you write about the SDGs, name the specific goal and number, describe its aim, then link it to at least one other goal or to a determinant of health to show interconnection.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VCAA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2022 VCAA4 marks'Education and health' is one of Australia's aid priorities. Explain how this Australian aid priority works towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, 'Gender equality'. (4 marks)
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Four marks: build a clear chain from the 'education and health' aid priority to progress on SDG 5 'Gender equality'.
Funding education means more girls can attend and complete school (1 mark), which gives them knowledge, skills and qualifications that increase their opportunities for paid work and economic independence, reducing the gender gap (1 mark). Funding health, including maternal, reproductive and sexual health services, lets women control their fertility and stay healthy enough to work and participate (1 mark). Together, educated, healthy women gain greater status, decision-making power and workforce participation, directly advancing gender equality (SDG 5) (1 mark). Reward an explicit link between educating and improving the health of women and girls and the achievement of gender equality.
2025 VCAA4 marksMany non-government organisations work to combat violence against women and girls to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Describe how the prevention of violence against women and girls could promote two dimensions of health and wellbeing. (4 marks)
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Four marks: two dimensions of health and wellbeing, each linked to preventing violence against women and girls (2 marks each). This connects SDG 5 / SDG 3 to individual health and wellbeing.
Dimension 1 - physical (about 2 marks): preventing violence reduces injuries, chronic pain and other physical harm caused by abuse, so women maintain better physical health and wellbeing.
Dimension 2 - mental (about 2 marks): without the fear and trauma of violence, women experience less anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, supporting positive mental health and wellbeing. Social health and wellbeing is also acceptable (women can form safe relationships and participate in the community). Name each dimension and tie it clearly to the prevention of violence.