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.

Elsevier, The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, Volume 9, October 2021
Elsevier, The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, Volume 9, October 2021
Europeans are not only exposed to direct effects from climate change, but also vulnerable to indirect effects from infectious disease, many of which are climate sensitive, which is of concern because of their epidemic potential. Climatic conditions have facilitated vector-borne disease outbreaks like chikungunya, dengue, and West Nile fever and have contributed to a geographic range expansion of tick vectors that transmit Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis.
Elsevier, The Lancet Oncology, Volume 22, October 2021
Elsevier, The Lancet, Volume 398, 9 October 2021
Elsevier,

The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, Volume 15, October 2021

A population-based genomic epidemiological study examining trends in tuberculosis among Australian First Nations peoples versus non-Indigenous and overseas-born Australians, in the context of SDG 3 and 10.
Elsevier,

Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, Volume 64, October 2021

Amyloid proteins can aggregate into insoluble fibrils and form amyloid deposits in the human brain, which is the hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. Promising strategies toward pathological amyloid proteins and deposition include investigating inhibitors that can disrupt amyloid aggregation or induce misfolding protein degradation. In this review, recent progress of peptide-based inhibitors, including amyloid sequence–derived inhibitors, designed peptides, and peptide mimics, is highlighted.

Short-term exposures to indoor air contaminants can cause adverse health impacts and warrant a need for real-time measurements. The most common indoor pollutants are carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), and particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Several low-cost monitors for indoor air quality are commercially available; however, few of them are accurately tested. A stable, easy to use, and reproducible platform was developed in this paper.
A diagram of the authors' 3-layer Internet of Things architecture.

Monitoring the thermal comfort of building occupants is crucial for ensuring sustainable and efficient energy consumption in residential buildings. Existing studies have addressed the monitoring of thermal comfort through questionnaires and activities involving occupants. However, few studies have considered disabled people in the monitoring of thermal comfort, despite the potential for impairments to present thermal requirements that are significantly different from those of an occupant without a disability.

In an urbanized catchment, land use has a strong effect on water quality. The majority of the landscape metrics are correlated with Ave River Basin water quality. Water quality is dependent on landscape planning. Ave River Basin requires landscape intervention to restore hydric resources.
Elsevier,

The Inequality of COVID-19, Immediate Health Communication, Governance and Response in Four Indigenous Regions, 2022, Pages 1-29

This chapter advances SDGs 3 and 10 by exploring the challenges faced by marginalized Indigenous communities experienced during the pandemic.

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