The SDGs provide a long-term, non-partisan framework for a more sustainable vision of urban development that provides equal opportunities for all inhabitants, promotes healthy living environments with access to green space, and is resilient in the face of everyday disasters and climatic hazards.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread human suffering.
As of mid-2022, COVID-19 had infected more than 500 million people worldwide. The latest estimates show that global “excess deaths” directly and indirectly attributable to COVID-19 could have been as high as 15 million by the end of 2021.
The pandemic has severely disrupted essential health services, triggered an increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression, lowered global life expectancy, derailed progress towards ending HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, and halted two decades of work towards making health coverage universal.
As a result, immunization coverage dropped for the first time in 10 years, and deaths from TB and malaria increased. Urgent and concerted action is needed to set the world back on a trajectory towards achieving Goal 3.
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellness at all ages is essential for sustainable development.
Before the pandemic, great strides were made to improve millions of people's health.In particular, these great strides were achieved by increasing life expectancy and reducing some common causes of death associated with infant and maternal mortality. However, more efforts are needed to completely eradicate a wide range of diseases and address a large number of ongoing and emerging health problems. Through more efficient financing of health systems, improved sanitation and hygiene, and greater access to medical personnel, significant progress can be made in helping to save the lives of millions of people.
Health emergencies, such as the one resulting from COVID-19, pose a global risk and have shown that preparedness is vital. The United Nations Development Programme noted the wide differences in countries' capacities to deal with and recover from the RVoID-19 crisis. . The pandemic represents a turning point in terms of preparedness for health emergencies and investment in vital public services in the 21st century.
València, through its Smart City Office, is working to improve the quality of life in urban environments, following the SDG roadmap for a more balanced and equitable urban development.
