SDG 3 aims to ensure that all people can live a healthy life and promote wellbeing for all, at any age. Despite tremendous advancements in medicine over the past decades, the distribution and affordability problems that people face has resulted with over one third of the world’s population lacking the proper access to vaccines, medicines, diagnostic tools and other essential health products*. The climate crisis is also a health crisis as every year an estimated 7 million people are killed from air pollution. These same emissions that are driving climate change are also responsible for 25% of deaths from stroke, heart attack, lung cancer and chronic raspatory disease*. The UN has stated that strengthening the health systems to achieve SDG 3, will need another $371 billion per year for 67 low and middle-income nations**. Although public funding is able to help get closer towards this target, the UN predicts that a funding gap of $54 billion will need to be filled**.
How businesses can assist with SDG 3:
SDG 3 isn’t entirely focused on healthcare, it’s also about investing into illness prevention. One of the most effective ways that a business could help lift the global health standards is by supporting the research and development of medicines and vaccines for both noncommunicable and communicable diseases that are most detrimental to developing nations. Businesses can also reduce the death toll associated with poor air quality by aiming to reduce their own carbon footprints through the use of clean energy sources.
** https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(17)30263-2/fulltext
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