Health and wellbeing

Health and well-being have a central role in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) endorsed by the United Nations, emphasizing the integral part they play in building a sustainable future. The third SDG explicitly calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. This goal encompasses a wide range of health objectives, from reducing maternal and child mortality rates, combatting disease epidemics, to improving mental health and well-being. But beyond SDG 3, health is intrinsically linked with almost all the other goals.

When addressing SDG 1, which aims to end poverty, one cannot neglect the social determinants of health. Economic hardship often translates into poor nutrition, inadequate housing, and limited access to health care, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty and poor health. Similarly, achieving SDG 2, ending hunger, also contributes to better health through adequate nutrition, essential for physical and mental development and the prevention of various diseases.

Conversely, the repercussions of climate change, encapsulated in SDG 13, profoundly impact health. Rising global temperatures can lead to increased spread of infectious diseases, compromised food and water supplies, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, all posing severe health risks. Conversely, the promotion of good health can also mitigate climate change through the reduction of carbon-intensive lifestyles and adoption of healthier, more sustainable behaviors.

SDG 5, advocating for gender equality, also has substantial health implications. Ensuring women's access to sexual and reproductive health services not only improves their health outcomes, but also contributes to societal and economic development. Furthermore, achieving SDG 4, quality education, is also critical for health promotion. Education fosters health literacy, empowering individuals to make informed health decisions, hence improving overall community health.

Lastly, SDG 17 underlines the importance of partnerships for achieving these goals. Multi-sector collaboration is vital to integrate health considerations into all policies and practices. Stakeholders from various sectors, including health, education, agriculture, finance, and urban planning, need to align their efforts in creating sustainable environments that foster health and well-being.

Hence, the relationship between health, well-being, and the SDGs is reciprocal. Improving health and well-being helps in achieving sustainable development, and vice versa. In this context, health and well-being are not just outcomes but are also powerful enablers of sustainable development. For the world to truly thrive, it must recognize and act upon these interconnections.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of complete decongestive therapy (CDT) in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL), in regard to volume reduction, functional status and quality of life (QoL). In th context of SDG Goal 3, the study found that phase 1 CDT in a combined manner performed daily for 3 weeks, greatly reduces the volumes as well as improves the disability and QoL, especially when performed earlier.
In this episode of The Lancet Voice, linked to SDGs 3 and 16, Oksana Pyzik joins Gavin Cleaver and Jessamy Bagenal to talk about the short and long-term health impacts of the conflict in Ukraine, and what happens next for those forced to flee.
This Viewpoint supports SDG 3 by highlighting why investing in disease surveillance in remote rural areas of LMICs will benefit global communities, and using Kenya as an example, showing how such surveillance can be strengthened and integrated into existing systems while sustaining biodiversity.
How poor mental health in parents can contribute to child neglect..
How too much information can affect mental health by causing distress.
Elsevier, Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 183, April 2022
Genistein is a phytoestrogen that, due to its structural similarity with estrogen, can both mimic and antagonize estrogen effects. Early analysis proved that at high concentrations, genistein inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation, thereby suggesting an anticancer activity. Since then, many discoveries have identified the genistein mechanism of action, including cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, as well as angiogenesis, and metastasis inhibition.
For World Health Day 2022, RELX's Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, Márcia Balisciano, speaks to Dr. Rebecca Katz on this year's theme of "our planet, our health".
UN World Health Day 2022 logo

Our planet, our health

Are we able to reimagine a world where clean air, water and food are available to all?

Where economies are focused on health and well-being?

Where cities are liveable and people have control over their health and the health of the planet?

Although older people have been recognised as a vulnerable group in humanitarian crises, they have not traditionally been considered a priority for humanitarian assistance.
This paper concludes that effective local implementation of MSN (Multisectoral Nutrition) policy requires country-level commitment together with local leadership and capacity building, and community engagement to ensure efforts fit program contexts.

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