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COVID-19 puts the Sustainable Development Goals center stage
... COVID-19 is a novel type of coronavirus appearing since late 2019, and the ongoing pandemic has resulted in over 135 million cases and 3 million deaths worldwide by April 2021 [12,13], ranking COVID-19-associated pneumonia as one of the most devastating infectious diseases in the history of public health. While the full extent of COVID-19's impact on economies, societies and health is still unknown but unfolding every day, the pandemic is destined to cause significant interruptions to the SDGs [14] and particularly the health of adolescents worldwide [15,16]. While cumulative cases and deaths are the direct consequences of the pandemic, indirect influences from the many unprecedented COVID-19related disruptions on health and human beings may not be readily measurable for some time until the pandemic recedes, and may even reverberate for an extended period following the end of pandemic [17,18]. ...
... The countries/ territories in the datasets refer to the United-Nationsdesignated sovereignties or entities, but should not be interpreted with regard to any legal status of territorial disputes. Divisions of development stages and age groups are not absolute, but a general definition is used as an approximate reference: children (aged 1-9), adolescents (aged [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and youths (aged [20][21][22][23][24]. ...
... Fig. 4 Age-structured COVID-19 cases and deaths. Cumulative cases and deaths in children (aged 0-9), adolescents (aged [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], youths (aged [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Springer Nature journal content, brought to you courtesy of Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH ("Springer Nature"). Springer Nature supports a reasonable amount of sharing of research papers by authors, subscribers and authorised users ("Users"), for smallscale personal, non-commercial use provided that all copyright, trade and service marks and other proprietary notices are maintained. ...
Background
Health status in adolescents is difficult to evaluate and compare horizontally, vertically and longitudinally among different regions and nations of the world.
Methods
With repeated surveys conducted with relatively uniformed standards, the UNICEF Data warehouse compiles and publishes a wide spectrum of health indicators, of which data analysis and visualization would reveal the underlying statuses and trends on global, regional and national levels.
Results
Apparent geographic disparity is present in that sub-Saharan African countries lag far behind their counterparts in other regions with regard to most health indicators on adolescents. Education attendance rates sequentially drop from primary to secondary school levels, and display correlation with youth literacy. Harmful practices of early marriage, early childbearing and female genital mutilation have decreased but the presences of peer violence and sexual violence are worthy of attentions. Although incidence and mortality rates of HIV/AIDS have dropped (most notably in sub-Saharan Africa), adolescents’ HIV/AIDS awareness remains suboptimal in selected countries. Cumulative COVID-19 cases and deaths in the adolescents are comparable to the children but relatively lower than the adult and senior groups.
Conclusions
Findings on the health indicators of adolescents until 2019 reveal the most recent status quo for reference right before the hit of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Progresses made on the various health indicators as well as the associated disparity and inequality underlie the remaining gaps to fill for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
... While the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been linked to unsustainable behaviours driving the ongoing biodiversity and sustainability crises [16], and there is evidence that the pandemic disrupted interest in topics related to health, tourism, and the environment [17,18], its consequences on sustainability efforts remain uncertain. Some scientists have outlined the need to rethink the SDGs in the wake of the pandemic [19], while others argue the pandemic re-emphasizes the importance of the SDGs as catalyst for progress [20]. Either way, continued monitoring of societal interest in sustainability topics will be paramount to ensure progress towards sustainability. ...
... The sharp shift in attention away from the SDGs could have been interpreted as a sign of broader societal disengagement with the goals, supporting calls for the need to rethink and restructure the SDGs in the wake of the pandemic [19]. However, the subsequent recovery, further growth and increasing association in interest between the goals points towards the opposite direction, and suggest the SDGs are more relevant than ever [20]. In fact, many of these patterns can be interpreted considering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. ...
The lack of robust and timely data continues to be a limiting factor in the capacity to monitor progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Developing indicators based on big data has been proposed as a suitable approach to overcome this challenge but such developments have largely focused on earth observation data. Digital data representing aspects of human behaviour, such as information-seeking behaviour, hold great potential to monitor interest and engagement with sustainability topics. Using worldwide data from online searches carried out through Google’s search engine, we explore how interest in the seventeen SDGs has changed over time since the goals were first proposed and assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these dynamics. Our results suggest a growing trend for searches related to the SDGs since they came into place in 2016. Interest was mostly directed at social and economic-related goals in the first years, but increasing interest in environmental goals has greatly increased in the last years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in internet searches for the SDGS, but interest has recovered since then and continues to grow. Searches for the different SDGs are also more frequently connected following the pandemic, possibly indicating a growing awareness of the inter-related nature of sustainability goals. While further progress is needed to captivate broader engagement with the SDGs, our analysis suggests some progress has been achieved and highlights the potential of digital data to improve our understanding of public interest and engagement with sustainability topics. To materialize this potential, we outline specific areas where digital data can enhance capacity to monitor and shape sustainability progress.
... A growing body of research has already explored the relationship between COVID-19 and SDGs [8][9][10]. While some studies suggest that COVID-19 measures have brought a few positive impacts on the environment, for example, by reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions [11,12], other research gives a harsh judgment on the impact of COVID-19 on SDGs by claiming that COVID-19 has torn to shreds sustained economic growth and globalization, the two big assumptions on which SDGs' success were built [8]. ...
... The second contribution of our study is at the level of the methodological approach. Although different scholars analyzed the effects of COVID-19 on SDGs [4,9,18], it was unclear whether the effects on SDG implementation are only attributable to the COVID-19 crisis or had been there before. Using data from the survey we conducted together with VVSG, we were able to disentangle various effects over time. ...
Using data from a survey we conducted in collaboration with the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG), this article sought to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of SDGs by Flemish local governments (cities and municipalities). Identifying such effects has usually been conducted on individuals and at a macro level and not at the organization and local government level. By using a counterfactual approach, we were able to disentangle various COVID-19 effects over time and learn how systems at the local level react to external shocks. The approach allowed us to single out the effects of the pandemic at the organizational level while looking into three distinct periods: before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and in its aftermath. Results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the Flemish public sector’s implementation of SDGs at the local level. At the same time, COVID-19 allowed local public institutions to accelerate the implementation of a few SDGs (e.g., SDG1, SDG3) and to postpone a few SDG-related activities which would be resumed once the pandemic is ‘over’. COVID-19 is not only a challenge; it acts as a wake-up call and an opportunity to commit more towards the implementation of (certain) SDGs.
... If not properly addressed through policy, the social crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic may also increase inequality, exclusion, discrimination, and global unemployment in the medium and long term [80]. Meanwhile, some experts believe that the COVID-19 may help spur efforts to realize the UN's 2030 Agenda [81], and there might also be some positive developments in the long term [82]. Ambition to achieve the goals is as important as ever, but the pandemic has required countries to revise their strategies for achieving them. ...
... properly addressed through policy, the social crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic may also increase inequality, exclusion, discrimination, and global unemployment in the medium and long term [80]. Meanwhile, some experts believe that the COVID-19 may help spur efforts to realize the UN's 2030 Agenda [81], and there might also be some positive developments in the long term [82]. Ambition to achieve the goals is as important as ever, but the pandemic has required countries to revise their strategies for achieving them. ...
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provided brand new goals and action targets for human well-being and development, but the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow on the im-plementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is therefore essential to provide a reference for making policy adjustments and transformations to promote the realization of SDGs in the post-pandemic era. Based on a literature review of the progress and policies of SDGs across countries worldwide, we find that research on sustainable policies has rapidly increased since the SDGs issued in 2015 with particular focuses on eco-environment, sustainable policies, green economy, sanitation and health, and water sanitation. Most countries are in the process of nation-alization, institutionalization, and universalization of the SDGs through incorporating the SDGs into national development frameworks, enabling extensive participation and negotiation mecha-nisms, and promoting the SDGs’ national publicity. Countries of different economic and institu-tional backgrounds demonstrate divergent development pathways, priorities, measures, and pro-gress in the implementation of SDGs. Despite significant global progress during the last five years, the North–South divide emerges in the policy action and achievement of SDGs. The least devel-oped countries in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia appear to be difficult or even unable to im-plement the SDGs and monitor the progress. In the post-pandemic era, particular attention shall be given to integrating SDGs and achieve synergy among goals, concretizing short-and medi-um-term priorities toward the SDGs targets for all countries, strengthening multilateralism and global cooperation among countries and continents, providing reliable data and approaches for real-time impact assessment and process monitoring, and promoting an inclusive engagement and integrative implementation with multiple stakeholders and consortiums.
... The COVID-19 pandemic, an unforeseen disruptor on a global scale has further accentuated the need for resilient and sustainable systems (Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020). Its socio-economic ramifications emphasize the importance of sustainable development in navigating crises and building a foundation for a more inclusive and robust future (Khosla et al., 2021;Shulla et al., 2021). ...
The proliferation of digital labor has occasioned some challenges and opportunities. Digital labor is an automated-driven service provided by robotic process automation systems. It is efficient in building, deploying, and managing robots and capable of emulating workers by interacting with other digital systems and software. Unethical use of digital labor poses a threat to workforce sustainability. Hence, there is a need for sustainable production systems in Industry 5.0, which necessitates the current demand for human-centric technological applications in various industries. The chapter explores plausible pathways for integrating digital and human labor in business operations using a narrative literature review approach and the abductive reasoning method. This chapter showcases the importance of designing technologies that enhance human capabilities, promote inclusivity, and mitigate potential adverse effects on workforce sustainability and employment generation. This chapter offers a set of principles for sustainable production systems in Industry 5.0.
... The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns on the possibility of realizing the SDGs by 2030. For instance, Naidoo and Fisher (2020) held that many of the 169 targets of SDGs will not be met by 2030, while Ottersen and Engebretsen (2020) argued that COVID-19 can unveil the inequities and governance dysfunctions that the SDGs are poised to rectify and help spur efforts to realize the UN's 2030 Agenda. To our knowledge, this study analyzed the changes of SDGs during the pandemic as the research progressed for the first time. ...
... Calls to revise the ambitious SDG targets (rather than face the prospect of failure) (Nature, 2020) have been criticised because of the catastrophic risks of doing so (Cernev & Fenner, 2020;Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020;Sachs et al., 2020) and because the goals, while slipping, are our only hope. Whether it was ever reachable is one question, but as the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has said, we cannot stop trying to reach it: 'If the global response fails the world's poor and vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date may be dwarfed by what lies ahead' (World Bank, 2020). ...
The raison d'être for psychotherapy¹ is to address individual suffering and distress. The sustainable development goals address suffering and distress on a global scale in the context of threats to the survival of our communities and planet.
Objective
We propose scaling up therapeutic principles for collective impact and nurturing therapist commitment beyond the therapy room, to activate and sustain compassion‐in‐action at the community system level.
Design
The SDGs represent the strength of collective human concern and action coming together. At the half‐way point, we are falling dangerously short of our targets, requiring an urgent response. The tenet of this paper is that the weakest link in our journey is not technical capability or finances, or even the impact of multiple intersecting crises, but our ability to collaborate for sustained action—it is the human factor—hence, we need a psychologically informed response.
Method
Notably, least ‘visible’ is SDG17, the umbrella goal designated means of implementation, through partnership. Partnership has been treated as a transactional element of SDG projects, rather than the vital heartbeat connecting daily actions to the 2030 vision. Partnership is about investing in relationships and a commitment to working together with a common purpose—the bailiwick of psychological therapists.
Results
We propose an architecture to support the development of courageous partnerships and compassionate systems.
Conclusion
Compassion uniquely potentiates global action on wicked problems.
... Although pre-pandemic SDG development was slow (Van Zanten & van Tulder, 2020), this led to discussions about their modification (Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020). Several people contend that not all 169 SDG goals will be achieved by 2030 (Naidoo & Fisher, 2020). ...
Due to the spread of the coronavirus over the last 3 years, researchers have conducted numerous studies on the COVID-19, project risk management (PRM), and sustainable development goals (SDGs) topics. In this context, the study aims to identify the most important authors, sources, organizations, and countries contributing to the effect of COVID-19 on PRM and SDGs also to provide researchers with extensive insights into the prominent research trends and gaps in the literature. Therefore, this study analyzes the state of the art in the literature about global trends of the research on COVID-19 risks impact in project risk management and SDGs by using bibliometric analysis. Four hundred thirty-eight studies on COVID-19 risks impact on project risk management and SDGs achievement were published in the WoS database between 2019 and 2022. VOSviewer software was used to analyze the co-occurrence of all keywords, co-authorships analysis, and co-citation analysis for sources. Results show the contribution of authors from 23 countries and 91 keywords were identified and organized in four clusters such as the challenges of project risk management and SDGs implementation during COVID-19, the effect of COVID-19 crisis on good health and well-being goal achievement, the importance of risk perception knowledge in projects environment to keep worker health care, and the effect of COVID-19 on project risk management plan factors.
... Doing so will not be easy. Despite some optimism that COVID-19 would spur countries to take stronger actions to realize the SDGs (Ottersen and Engebretsen, 2020;Mohammed, 2021), the pandemic has caused serious setbacks, from the closure of schools to continuing impacts on healthcare systems, that will reverberate for years to come. Efforts to achieve the Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development remain in "grave jeopardy" (2022 SDG Report, p. 3). ...
... The action gap is glaring, and we urgently need a new approach to reaching the highly interlinked Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and health for all. The COVID-19 pandemic cast a stark spotlight on preexisting local and global inequities and inequalities that, while acknowledged, have not been sufficiently prioritised in our endeavour to realise the SDG ambitions [1]. Societies demonstrated remarkable resolve in overcoming the pandemic, an approach that should be applied to other challenges to health and society. ...
Sustainable health , a multisectoral area for study, research, and practice towards improving health and well-being for all while staying within planetary boundaries, is a prerequisite to reaching the 2030 agenda and the work and journey towards a world in which everyone, everywhere can live a healthy and fulfilled life.
... Despite these challenges, some authors interpret the pandemic as a catalyst for progress, which makes extant sustainability challenges impossible to ignore (Van Zanten and van Tulder, 2020;Ottersen and Engebretsen, 2020), and emphasises the fundamental role of private actors in the pursuit of sustainable development (Heggen et al., 2020). In other terms, with the right actions, the COVID-19 pandemic can mark the rebirth of society as we know it today to one where we protect present and future generations. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how companies addressed and revisited their sustainable development goals (SDGs) engagement during COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
The study conducts semi-structured interviews with the sustainability managers of 16 Italian listed companies acting for the accomplishment of the SDGs. Then, the interviews’ transcripts and the companies’ sustainability reports were thematically analysed to tease out relevant findings.
Findings
The findings show that companies have intensified their SDGs efforts during COVID-19, implementing an approach closer to the “Sustainability for Braving Crisis”. The findings unveil the transformational mechanisms which determined and facilitated this improvement at three levels of the business SDGs engagement: “WHY” (general awareness and motivations), “HOW” (governance mechanisms, organizational structure and stakeholder dialogue) and “WHAT” (SDGs identification and prioritization and actions for the SDGs). These findings uncover the mechanisms through which a global crisis may prompt and catalyse sustainable business practices, acting as i) an inspirational and empowering event, ii) an organisational lever and iii) a reference point.
Practical implications
This research has important implications for practice and policy, as it offers managers and stakeholders guidance to understand how companies have reshaped their sustainability practices during the pandemic and drives future corporate responses in times of crisis.
Social implications
This study shows that a crisis may be a powerful lever to intensify business sustainability practices towards a better contribution to the SDGs.
Originality/value
This study focuses on how companies have revised their SDGs practices when faced with a global crisis such as COVID-19.
... Among other things, Covid-19 has demonstrated the need to explore the root causes of zoonotic transmission through one-health approaches and developing vaccine strategies against zoonotic viruses before the pandemic potential is translated into an actual INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT (IJHPM) ONLINE ISSN: 2322-5939 JOURNAL HOMEPAGE: HTTPS://WWW.IJHPM.COM 7 pandemic. 28,29,30 It has also demonstrated the need to improve health surveillance and alert systems at the national, regional and global levels, including the development and application of digital information systems. 31 The focus of this discussion has not been restricted to scientific and technological issues; social and political aspects of preparedness have also been emphasized, on the basis that health disparities need to be mitigated to build societal resilience and promote sustainable development. ...
This conceptual paper argues the need for narrative preparedness, understood as the ability to engage and empathize with peoples’ stories and the values they encode, assess them based on the universe in which people live, and acknowledge the narrative rationality of each story – even when it conflicts with the rationality of science. Expanding ‘health preparedness’ to encompass ‘narrative preparedness’ complements the ideals of patient centeredness, which are sometimes betrayed when implemented into concrete decisions because the rationality of science that underpins medical practice fails to make sense of patients’ stories. We outline the central tenets of narrative preparedness and demonstrate its relevance by discussing various responses to mainstream discourses on COVID-19 as a case in point. We discuss and further develop Fisher’s narrative paradigm, which provides a model that complements traditional, scientific rationality with attention to narrative rationality and a radical democratic ground for health political critique. Applying the narrative paradigm to authentic examples of vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination demonstrates how closer attention to the way narratives are assessed by different constituencies might help us mitigate some of the sources of resistance and misunderstanding that continue to plague public communication about important medical issues such as pandemics. Health authorities must acknowledge and engage with the stories people believe in and their reasons for doing so. The crucial question for the success of health policy interventions is not only ‘what are the facts’ but ‘how do these facts make sense to people, and why’. To be prepared for the next pandemic, health professionals must learn to engage with people’s stories and the processes by which they come to be understood and assessed differently by various constituencies.
... The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity [6]. The 17 SDGs are integrated-they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability [7]. The SDGs are set to emphasize policies involving social, environmental, and economic aspects to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure everyone can enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030 [8]. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every sector in the world, ranging from the education sector to the health sector, administration sector, economic sector and others in different ways. Multiple kinds of research have been performed by research centres, education institutions and research groups to determine the extent of how huge of a threat the COVID-19 pandemic poses to each sector. However, detailed analysis and assessment of its impact on every single target within the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have not been discussed so far. We report an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 effect towards achieving the United Nations SDGs. In assessing the pandemic effects, an expert elicitation model is used to show how the COVID-19 severity affects the positive and negative impact on the 169 targets of 17 SDGs under environment, society and economy groups. We found that the COVID-19 pandemic has a low positive impact in achieving only 34 (20.12%) targets across the available SDGs and a high negative impact of 54 targets (31.95%) in which the most affected group is the economy and society. The environmental group is affected less; rather it helps to achieve a few targets within this group. Our elicitation model indicates that the assessment process effectively measures the mapping of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on achieving the SDGs. This assessment identifies that the COVID-19 pandemic acts mostly as a threat in enabling the targets of the SDGs.
... Thus, we call for attention to improving the availability of quality data on migration and ensuring the monitoring of all migrants and migration flows which are essential to improve migration management and policy. Comprehensive and dataavailable indicators are also required to measure and predict migration propensity, flow, and capacity and the trade-offs and synergies between achieving different SDGs, given the emerging challenges from COVID-19 (Lambert et al. 2020;Forster et al. 2020;Ottersen and Engebretsen 2020). ...
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is seen as a region of mass migration and population displacement caused by poverty, violent conflict, and environmental stress. However, empirical evidence is inconclusive regarding how SSA’s international migration progressed and reacted during its march to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article attempts to study the patterns and determinants of SSA’s international migration and the cause and effects on sustainable development by developing a Sustainability Index and regression models. We find that international migration was primarily intra-SSA to low-income but high-population-density countries. Along with increased sustainability scores, international migration declined, but emigration rose. Climate extremes tend to affect migration and emigration but not universally. Dry extremes propelled migration, whereas wet extremes had an adverse effect. Hot extremes had an increasing effect but were insignificant. SSA’s international migration was driven by food insecurity, low life expectancy, political instability and violence, high economic growth, unemployment, and urbanisation rates. The probability of emigration was mainly driven by high fertility. SSA’s international migration promoted asylum seeking to Europe with the diversification of origin countries and a motive for economic wellbeing. 1% more migration flow or 1% higher probability of emigration led to a 0.2% increase in asylum seekers from SSA to Europe. Large-scale international migration and recurrent emigration constrained SSA’s sustainable development in political stability, food security, and health, requiring adequate governance and institutions for better migration management and planning towards the SDGs.
... Mutual coherence and compatibility among the goals, however, is particularly relevant in a post-pandemic recovery period (Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020;Shulla et al., 2021). ...
This paper explores the actual and potential contributions of community‐led initiatives (CLIs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As examples of self‐determined practical action for sustainability and social justice, CLIs prefigure many of the intended outcomes of the SDGs. Existing evidence shows that CLIs are already contributing, at local scale, to almost all of the SDGs, and achieving particular success in bringing different goals into synergy. However, these achievements are based on ethics, guiding philosophies, issue framings, practical goals and ways of organising that differ significantly from those behind the formulation and delivery of the SDGs. Embracing those differences, and with them greater plurality and ongoing critical self‐reflection, would allow the SDGs to transcend certain self‐limiting contradictions, particularly concerning the role of economic growth. Such a shift in orientation is essential if the SDGs are to move from reinforcing to challenging the root causes of unsustainability and injustice.
... Naidoo and Fisher (2020) expect 10% to have a negative impact on future pandemics. However, Ottersen and Engebretsen (2020) indicate that pessimism and resignation from the positive influences of the implementation of the SDGs may even threaten future global crisis situations, which undoubtedly includes any pandemic. Naidoo and Fisher (2020) also noted that the coronavirus pandemic had a significant and negative impact on all SDGs, affecting the limited ability to perform the individual tasks listed in Table 2. Source: (Naidoo, Fisher, 2020). ...
The coronavirus pandemic affected all areas of social life and changed the conditions in which most industries operate. The current forms of profitable business activities were suspended in many sectors of the market, which forced entrepreneurs to adapt to the new market conditions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, particular attention should be paid to the activities of enterprises in two so far closely related areas: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development (SD). Enterprises typically pursued sustainable development goals (SDGs) and supported them as part of their CSR.
The paper is exploratory in nature and it aims to determine the degree of CSR commitment and the implementation of the SDGs during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The results show that the sudden outbreak of the pandemic and the equally dynamic response of governments left some enterprises in uncertainty as going concerns. However, financially sound companies have become committed to helping the population groups most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the pandemic situation has significantly distanced companies from achieving the intended long-term Global Goals, and the spread of the Covid-19 disease has a significant (mostly negative) impact on the sustainable development of the world. Furthermore, it is impossible to determine the long-term impact of a pandemic on CSR activities and on the implementation of the SDGs.
... It has been suggested that the schedule for meeting 17 of the SDGs should be amended with a "pandemic reset" that extends the time limit to 2050 (Naidoo and Fisher, 2020;Sörgel et al., 2021). However, several researchers argue that COVID-19 has facilitated the identification of obstacles to the SDG pathway (Ottersen and Engebretsen, 2020). They contend that, instead of revisiting the SDG time-frame, earmarking and addressing the challenges to their timely attainment would be more useful. ...
The transmission dynamics and health risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are inextricably linked to ineract with environment, climate, air pollution, and meteorological conditions. The spread of COVID-19 infection can thus perturb the ‘planetary health’ and livelihood by exerting impacts on the temporal and spatial variabilities of environmental pollution. Prioritization of COVID-19 by the health-care sector has been posing a serious threat to economic progress and undermines efforts to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for environmental sustainability and mitigating the effects on climate. Here, we review the multifaceted effects of COVID-19 with respect to environmental quality, climatic variables, SDGs, energy resilience, and sustainability programs. It is well perceived that COVID-19 may have long-lasting and profound effects on socio-economic systems, food security, livelihoods, and the ‘nexus’ indicators. To seek for the solution of these problems consensus can be drawn to establish and ensure a sound health-care system, a sustainable environment, and a circular bioeconomy. A holistic analysis of COVID-19's effects on multiple sectors should help develop nature-based solutions, cleaner technologies, and green economic recovery plans to help maintain environmental sustainability, ecosystem resilience, and planetary health.
... All this as populations saw their financial and earning capacities diminish, and social inequalities exacerbated (James and Thériault, 2020). These numerous negative consequences will have an impact on the achievement of all the SDGs and leave a mark on humanity for many years (Ottersen and Engebretsen, 2020). ...
The global COVID-19 pandemic has continued to sweep across countries with most educational institutions needing to operate in crisis mode in an attempt to mitigate learning losses arising from the extended levels of lockdowns. In this chapter, we consider the impact of the pandemic on global endeavours to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as part of the global agreement concluded in 2015 by the United Nations (UN). The chapter considers the mitigation strategies used in the education sector, in low income countries, and considers the intersections of the pandemic with poverty and gender. In addition, the chapter contemplates the long term complications arising from the resultant learning losses, which reverse the gains made in respect of Goal 4 of the SDGs. It argues
argued that the pandemic has thwarted our endeavours to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all − a goal indispensable for the achievement of all other 16 Goals of the SDG, specifically health and well-being (SDG 3) and gender equality (SDG 5), which are discussed in the latter part of this chapter.
... There have been questions as to whether the current SDGs are still relevant in the wake of the pandemic and calls for revision (Naidoo and Fisher 2020). A post-pandemic world also, however, provides a great opportunity to build a more sustainable future for the community in need (Ottersen and Engebretsen 2020). In this debate, we tend to agree with the latter. ...
Successful implementation of solutions to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on harnessing synergistic interactions among SDGs and effective engagement among a diverse group of societal stakeholders. This paper presents a framework and case study for a design and engagement process in which the university takes the lead in the co-creation of SDG solutions. The model supports university-led efforts by leveraging three elements: (i) inherent synergies across SDGs, (ii) modes of solution identification, design, and implementation, and (iii) modes of stakeholder involvement and interactions. Using an integration of human-centered design (HCD) and shared-action learning (SAL), we document a case led by a large, public, research-oriented university on how different stakeholders participated in the co-creation process to find solutions. Based on the experience of about 50 students over 4 years in support of SDG implementation in Indonesia, the initiative leveraged synergies within SDG 1, 2, and 5 (related to increasing income-generating power for women and indigenous people) and SDG 7 (use of solar energy for fish preservation and crop processing). Throughout the process, interactions with stakeholders took place during design workshop courses, community consultations, mentoring and internships programs, partnering with companies and local universities and government, site visits, and immersions in local communities. The HCD-SAL model established a system for monitoring impacts across all stakeholders, particularly how the projects helped increase communities' economic well-being. This model provides guidance for universities to develop genuine stakeholder engagement and support for finding and continuously improving SDG solutions.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01128-9.
... Thus, we call for attention to improving the availability of quality data on migration and ensuring the monitoring of all migrants and migration flows which are essential to improve migration management and policy. Comprehensive and dataavailable indicators are also required to measure and predict migration propensity, flow, and capacity and the trade-offs and synergies between achieving different SDGs, given the emerging challenges from COVID-19 (Lambert et al. 2020;Forster et al. 2020;Ottersen and Engebretsen 2020). ...
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is seen as a region of mass migration and population displacement caused by poverty, violent conflict, and environmental stress. However, empirical evidence is inconclusive regarding how SSA’s international migration progressed and reacted during its march to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article attempts to study the patterns and determinants of SSA’s international migration and the cause and effects on sustainable development by developing a Sustainability Index and regression models. We find that international migration was primarily intra-SSA to low-income but high-population-density countries. Along with increased sustainability scores, international migration declined, but emigration rose. Climate extremes tend to affect migration and emigration but not universally. Dry extremes propelled migration, whereas wet extremes had an adverse effect. Hot extremes had an increasing effect but were insignificant. SSA’s international migration was driven by food insecurity, low life expectancy, political instability and violence, high economic growth, unemployment, and urbanisation rates. The probability of emigration was mainly driven by high fertility. SSA’s international migration promoted asylum seeking to Europe with the diversification of origin countries and a motive for economic wellbeing. 1% more migration flow or 1% higher probability of emigration led to a 0.2% increase in asylum seekers from SSA to Europe. Large-scale international migration and recurrent emigration constrained SSA’s sustainable development in political stability, food security, and health, requiring adequate governance and institutions for better migration management and planning towards the SDGs.
Graphical abstract
... However, progress in interpretation, uptake and implementation of their various recommendations has thus far been slow and ineffective. It has been argued that if the SDGs, for example, had been fully embraced and implemented, the world would have been in a much better position to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have been less likely to occur in the first place (110). Counterfactual speculation aside, crucial resilience-building may come from diagnosing and overcoming reasons behind the limited effectiveness of existing policy processes rather than developing entirely new ones. ...
COVID-19 has revealed how challenging it is to manage global, systemic and compounding crises. Like COVID-19, climate change impacts, and maladaptive responses to them, have potential to disrupt societies at multiple scales via networks of trade, finance, mobility and communication, and to impact hardest on the most vulnerable. However, these complex systems can also facilitate resilience if managed effectively. This review aims to distil lessons related to the transboundary management of systemic risks from the COVID-19 experience, to inform climate change policy and resilience building. Evidence from diverse fields is synthesised to illustrate the nature of systemic risks and our evolving understanding of resilience. We describe research methods that aim to capture systemic complexity to inform better management practices and increase resilience to crises. Finally, we recommend specific, practical actions for improving transboundary climate risk management and resilience building. These include mapping the direct, cross-border and cross-sectoral impacts of potential climate extremes, adopting adaptive risk management strategies that embrace heterogenous decision-making and uncertainty, and taking a broader approach to resilience which elevates human wellbeing, including societal and ecological resilience.
... The problems of zoonotic infections, pandemics and AMR have been referred to as key challenges facing humanity in the 21st century and associated with increased risks to global security, poverty, food security, health and development (Perry and Grace, 2009;Davies, 2013;De Bengy Puyvallée and Kittelsen, 2019;Laborde et al., 2020;Ottersen and Engebretsen, 2020). In addition to their magnitude, one of the peculiar challenges of zoonoses and AMR is that the problem emerges from and affects multiple sectors-such as pharmaceuticals, crop and animal agriculture, food processing, water resources and public health, among others. ...
Complex health policy challenges such as Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are driven by activities in multiple sectors. Therefore, addressing these also requires joint efforts from multiple sectors as exemplified in the One Health approach. We undertake a critical review to examine the different ways in which multisector partnerships have been conceptualised across multiple disciplines and thematic areas. We started with a set of six articles from the disciplines of health, nutrition, and public administration that reviewed conceptual frameworks within their respective fields. We conducted backward citation tracing using the bibliography of the six articles to identify other articles in the same and related fields that conceptualised multisector partnerships. We identified 58 articles published from 1967–2018 from the fields of global health, infectious diseases, management, nutrition, and sustainability sciences indicating multisector partnerships have been a topic of study across different fields for several decades. A thematic analysis of the 58 articles revealed that multisector partnerships assume a variety of forms and have been described in different ways. Partnerships can be categorised by scope, scale, formality, and strength. Multisector partnerships emerge in conditions of dynamic uncertainty and sector failure when the information and resources required are beyond the capacities of any individual sector. Such partnerships are inherently political in nature and subsume multiple competing agendas of collaborating actors. Sustaining collaborations over a long period of time will require collaborative approaches like One Health to accommodate competing political perspectives and include flexibility to allow multisector partnerships to respond to changing external dynamics.
... There are few recent studies in the literature which have discussed both positive as well as negative the impact of COVID 19 on the SDGs. [16] have emphasized that the COVID-19 should be considered as a catalyst for the progress of SDGs. The unique challenges imposed by the pandemic should be leveraged in the implementation of the SDGs. ...
The novel coronavirus disease has spread uncontrollably all over the world within a short span of time and has affected the development of the world in many ways. All the nations have directed their technical, financial and political resources towards controlling COVID-19 pandemic across the world. It is predicted that the impact of this crisis will remain for longer period of time, affecting the livelihood of people and all those activities that were contributing to the development of the nations across the globe. In fact, the most promising and significant seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted in the year 2015 by the United Nations (UN) Member States addressing various global issues, now seem difficult to be achieved by 2030 due to coronavirus pandemic. However, even though the COVID-19 pandemic might have turmoil effect on the existing growth of the world, still few positive developments may be observed in the long run due to this pandemic. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying and quantifying the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in achieving the UN SDGs. This study brings out both negative as well as positive influences of the pandemic on the environment and energy related SDGs. The study uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to calculate the weights of the identified positive and negative influences for each environment and energy related goals. Further, 4-1 ratings are used to identify the severity of the influences on the SDGs. Finally, a score is calculated using weights and ratings that indicates the overall impact of the pandemic on environment and energy related SDGs. The result obtained in the study shows that the pandemic offers an opportunity to develop action plans that can build more environmentally sustainable future.
... Populations saw their financial and earning capacities diminish (OECD, 2020b), and even rich countries saw a reduction in the average life expectancy (Andrasfay & Goldman, 2021); something unprecedented in the last half-century. Over the past year, COVID-19 has exacerbated social inequalitiesincluding, but not limited to, disability, employment status, nationality, income, language, race, gender and social class (James & Thériault, 2020); numerous negative consequences will have an impact on the achievement of all the SDGs, which will leave a mark on humanity for many years (Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020). ...
Introduction: After more than a year of living with the COVID-19 pandemic, much experience has been accumulated by countries around the world. There have been many failures, and there have been some things that have gone well. Adult learning and education in some form has played a significant role in public health since, without the ongoing continuing educational interventions mainly via the mass media, the number of doctors and hospital beds would likely have been insufficient.
In this paper we focus on the role of group behaviours in relation to the risk of contagion and we argue that any attempts to define a strategy to combat the pandemic must include a strong commitment to information dissemination and to the training of the populations in order to encourage behaviour change necessary to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Against the backdrop of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this article argues for commitment by governments to use adult learning and education as a tool for health prevention and health awareness and to prepare populations for whatever pandemics and national disasters that might emerge in the twenty-first century, the “century of pandemics”. We therefore argue that populations must have at least a basic level of literacy and numeracy as foundational skills essential for enabling citizens to receive and act on vital information during a pandemic or disaster in order to engender greater resilience.
... With the development of vaccines against COVID-19, people expected that the virus would end [3,7]. However, the genetic variation of the spike protein on the surface of the virus caused breakthrough infections among those who had already become vaccinated, again leading to a wide spread of the virus [22,23]. Now, it is time to prepare for an age in which we coexist with COVID-19. ...
Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the awareness of local residents regarding healthcare projects and to suggest some ideas for the revision of local ones. Methods: To delve into the opinions of local residents, the author of this study created a questionnaire composed of eight questions on the general characteristics of the respondents, eight questions on satisfaction with health centers, 16 questions on the awareness of healthcare projects, and 22 questions on local healthcare. The survey was conducted for 409 residents who visited public centers in Gimcheon from 15 March to 14 April 2021. Results: Data analysis revealed the following: The proportion of local residents who use health centers was 39.1%, and those users visit health centers, on average, 3.92 times a year. Among healthcare projects, the project known by the highest proportion of people was vaccinations (84.5%), which was also the project that was most used (38.1%). Among healthcare projects needed in the with-COVID-19 age, respondents awarded the highest score to vaccinations (4.15 points on a five-point Likert scale) and the second highest score to infectious disease management (4.12). Conclusions: For healthcare projects, central and local governments should focus on activating vaccinations, solving the problem of medical accessibility through untact remote treatment and establishing national infectious disease-specializing hospitals and local infectious disease management based on such national hospitals.
... Societal stresses brought about by the pandemic have heightened racism around the world [5], especially toward Asians. Progress toward achievement of the sustainable development goals, themselves important for better pandemic preparedness, has been impeded [6,7]. Better pandemic preparedness is dependent on recognizing, committing to, and investing in health as a human right. ...
Purpose of review:
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global catastrophe that has led to untold suffering and death. Many previously identified policy challenges in planning for large epidemics and pandemics have been brought to the fore, and new ones have emerged. Here, we review key policy challenges and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to be better prepared for the future.
Recent findings:
The most important challenges facing policymakers include financing outbreak preparedness and response in a complex political environment with limited resources, coordinating response efforts among a growing and diverse range of national and international actors, accurately assessing national outbreak preparedness, addressing the shortfall in the global health workforce, building surge capacity of both human and material resources, balancing investments in public health and curative services, building capacity for outbreak-related research and development, and reinforcing measures for infection prevention and control.
Summary:
In recent years, numerous epidemics and pandemics have caused not only considerable loss of life, but billions of dollars of economic loss. The COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call and led to the implementation of relevant policies and countermeasures. Nevertheless, many questions remain and much work to be done. Wise policies and approaches for outbreak control exist but will require the political will to implement them.
... 28 See for example Boyce (2007) and Drabo (2011). 29 See for example Lynch et al. (2000) 30 See for example Naidoo and Fisher (2020) and Ottersen and Engebretsen (2020). 31 The GEC was first established in 2011 but it was activated in 2020. ...
The paper has two basic objectives. The first, is to present the evolution of the process of sustainable development in the European Union (EU). We provide evidence that over time, the concept of sustainable development as a broad policy objective has been steadily declining in importance giving way to the less multidimensional strategy of green growth. We argue that the green growth strategy is actually based on the strategic selection of the traditional economic growth model, taking into account certain environmental aspects. We show that environmental protection expenditure is growing much slower than per capita income. Looking at the investment on environmental protection, we document a clear falling trend. Our findings imply that both the social and the environmental dimension of sustainability have been losing ground and the traditional goal of economic growth is being restored. The second, is to provide some assessment of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the process of sustainable development in the EU. Considering the relevant EU forecasts on the immediate effects of the pandemic, we conclude that it will severely hinder the process of sustainability in the EU in the short term. The long-term effects of the pandemic cannot even be outlined, especially at the level of the individual member states. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the Recovery and Resilience Facility as key instrument of recovery and of national recovery and resilience plans, will play a decisive role in minimising or even neutralising the negative longer-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
... The presentism underpinning the EU response is at odds with universal preparedness for health that the world so strongly needs. 10 Although other countries that opposed the waiver were less explicit about their reasons, they supported the same line of argument as the EU. Without developing the argument further, the UK described the waiver as an extreme measure to address an unproven problem and as potentially "counterproductive. ...
... Under the precarious conditions caused by the ENCP the regional level four major hospitals were declared in red alert (Vega, 2017), and the other health centers showed flaws in basic services (due to flooding, access obstruction (Figure 2), lack of personnel, etc.). This deficiency of solidity in the health system has been affected during the current COVID-19 pandemic, under this scenario; new prevention strategies must be included in a framework of sustainability (Ottersen & Engebretsen, 2020). ...
Varios países son extremadamente susceptibles al cambio climático y el fenómeno El Niño-costero afectó a más de dos millones de personas en Ecuador, Colombia y Perú. Nuestro objetivo fue evaluar la calidad microbiológica de las aguas estancadas en la región de Lambayeque, Perú, durante el estado de emergencia causado por el fenómeno El Niño-costero mediante un estudio transversal realizado en cuatro distritos de Lambayeque: (Centro de Chiclayo, Mocupe, San José y Pimentel), Perú. Se tomaron dos muestras simultáneas de cada distrito de evaluación, y se trasladaron a Lima para su análisis microbiológico completo. Aislamos parásitos patógenos humanos ( Trichuris trichiura (Linnaeus, 1771) y Entamoeba histolytica Schaudinn, 1903) y bacterias ( Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach, 1884 y Salmonella typhi (Schroeter, 1886)) que presentaban patrones de resistencia a los antimicrobianos convencionales de primera línea (penicilina, ácido nalidíxico, nitrofurantoína y cloranfenicol). Asimismo, mostramos evidencia de microorganismos relacionados con el sitio de muestreo (distrito) y con el grado de afectación por el fenómeno. Nuestro resultado sugiere que las aguas estancadas de cuatro distritos de Lambayeque presentaron parásitos patógenos humanos y bacterias de alta importancia médica por los cambios repentinos en el clima a través del fenómeno El Niño-costero.
... Recent studies in the field on SDGs under COVID-19 primarily focus on effects on one selected SDG or one specific sector/thematic issue [77][78][79][80][81], or deal with the continuation of the SDGs [16,82]. The research objective the article puts forward is to explore the way the pandemic impacts the SDGs, primarily their interconnections. ...
Global crises caused by the pandemic of COVID-19, since early 2020, can compromise the world commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This study discusses critical aspects of the global pandemic for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More precisely, we analyze how the new circumstances created by the pandemic have affected the interdependencies between SDGs. Following a synopsis of the current literature, we focus on effects regarding SDG3 (Health & Well-Being), SDG4 (Quality Education), SDG8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth), SDG12 (Consumption & Production) and SDG13 (Climate Action). Following a qualitative research approach, we based our analysis on moderated focus group discussions (FGD). Our observations reveal a unique pattern of interconnectedness between SDGs that can be related to COVID-19 consequences. Qualitative interpretations of focus group discussions also depict, that additional spillover effects can be obstacles for achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 9 (Infrastructure & Innovation) and SDG 10 (Reducing Inequalities), SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals), SDG 11 (sustainable cities). Therefore, we consider the interdependent implications and recent trends in international development related to sustainability as a useful framework in the post-pandemic recovery period.
... The COVID-19 pandemic has tested wealthy nations' commitments to Agenda 2030 (ref. 4 ) and to 'leaving no one behind' at the same time that it has revealed democratic deficits, institutional rigidity, weak accountability systems, and inadequate policy space that protects health-governance systems from economic goals 5 . ...
... 1 Universal preparedness for health adds the "time" dimension, as being prepared is a global responsibility to avoid the next global emergency. 27 A starting point would be to revisit and strengthen the International Health Regulations sidelined in the covid-19 pandemic, but this is not enough to reduce the vulnerability created by megatrends that cut across sectors such as health, education, social protection, climate, and urban development. ...
Göran Tomson and colleagues argue that our ability to control pandemics requires global action to counter inequalities from demographic, environmental, technological, and other megatrends
... Perhaps the pandemic may not have even occurred. 22 Several think tanks and financial institutions have recommended the delivery of COVID-19 recovery packages that move forward systemic investments on vital infrastructure (to meet emission targets and climate adaptation strategies), build social resilience and welfare mechanisms, and improve governance and coordination. There is now a groundswell of initiatives, including from governments, civil society and multilateral institutions to use this moment as an opportunity to reset the global economy and spur 'green recovery'. ...
Joint CASCADES–RECEIPT policy brief
The COVID-19 pandemic put the life science sector to the test. Vaccines were developed at unprecedented speed, benefiting from decades of fundamental research and now honoured by a Nobel Prize. However, we saw that the fruits of science were inequitably distributed. Most low- and middle-income countries were left behind, deepening the inequalities that the Sustainable Development Goals were set to reduce. We argue that the life science sector must reinvent itself to be better and more equitably prepared for the next health crisis and to ensure fair access to health across current and future generations. Our recommendations include global governance, national strategies and the role of universities and corporations. Improved and more equitable health care should be centre stage for global health action and a core mission of a reframed Life Science sector – what we call Life Science 2.0.
Paper Context
Main findings: During the COVID-19 pandemic the Life Science sector stepped up to the challenge, but vaccines and medicines were not equitably distributed.
Added knowledge: Obstacles were identified that hindered global access to medical innovations.
Global health impact for policy and action: Global and national governance, universities and the private sector should join forces to create a Life Science sector (Life Science 2.0) that affords equitable access to medical advances across geographical and generational boundaries and socio-economic strata.
This article argues for a more critical, transformative and philosophically-underpinned approach to teaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The standard approach presents the SDGs as uncontested and universally agreed-upon targets, which oversimplifies their complexity and inherent contradictions and engages only superficially with the central unifying theme of sustainability. Whilst environmentally friendly healthcare practices and reducing healthcare’s carbon footprint are important goals, conflating them with the sustainability agenda conveys an overly narrow message about what sustainability is and how we might achieve it. To address these issues, the article proposes a more radical approach that integrates critical medical humanities into sustainable healthcare education and SDG discussions. The Centre for Sustainable Health Education (SHE) at the University of Oslo is presented as an example of this approach. SHE delivers a radical curriculum which aims to raise awareness of the challenges, conflicts and compromises involved in striving for a fair and sustainable future. SHE's teaching methods encourage collaborative, critical, and interdisciplinary reflection, which helps students to engage with ongoing controversies and debates surrounding sustainability and the SDGs. Ultimately, this approach broadens our understanding of health, illness, and sustainability by illuminating and interrogating the power structures that shape these concepts.
The present study offers a window into college students’ views of environmental sustainability in a country that is one of the major oil producers in the world. College students are the main constituents of the country’s programmatic plan (i.e., the 2030 Vision) for restructuring its infrastructure and human capital away from oil and gas production and toward a knowledge and service economy. Thus, their views can influence the success of the plan. In the present study, 430 college students at a university located at the heart of the oil and gas region were surveyed via an online questionnaire. Participants were of Middle Eastern descent. It was found that their beliefs and reported actions were generally supportive of a green economy. However, their beliefs in climate change and specifically in renewable energy did not predict much of their sustainability-based behaviors (e.g., recycling). The latter findings were interpreted as reflecting the internal conflict between embracing change (i.e., a desirable but uncertain future), and resisting change (i.e., a choice that would preserve, at least for some time, the benefits of the fossil fuel economy).
Objective
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a fragile preparation by countries and regions for epidemic events, exposing exacerbated nationalisms in pandemic mitigation and control actions. Both conditions decisively compromise the effectiveness and efficiency of pandemic control capacity. It is important to develop frameworks that help overcome frailties in response to epidemics.
Methods
Thematic literature review and discussions with multiple national and international entities. The discussions were not specific to the article, hence were not considered as formal information collection. Based on this information, an attempt was made to build a tool for responding to the identified problems.
Results
Proposal of the 2PF tool.
Conclusion
The proposed 2PF tool is aligned with the Sendai Framework and proposals from international bodies, such as HERA, among others. It aims to be a framework for operationalizing these agreements, at least in part of its dimensions. The general idea is that pandemic preparedness cannot fail or to all other disaster risks and similar recognized by the UN. The response to pandemics must be based essentially on international action and closer collaboration between countries and regions.
The paper addresses and delves into the importance of green finance in achieving the sustainable development goal (SDGs) in this decade of action. This paper focuses on the concerns of green finance post Covid-19 and the challenges which India faces in accomplishing its 2030 agenda. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have already highlighted the importance of green finance in realizing SDGs. Research has recognised the role of finance in achieving the SDGs is indisputable, but few studies analyse the role of green finance in addressing this issue. This paper is an attempt to fill the research gap by examining the link between the green finance and SDGs considering the impact of the pandemic. The paper examines the initiatives in green finance in India and also the challenges faced. The paper identifies the role of both public and private sector in the advancement of green finance. This paper holds a great deal of practical implications and policy recommendations to public and private sector, banks, government, green investors and policy makers
Objectives
This study explores the interrelationship among the current sustainability agenda of the pharmaceutical industry, based on the United Nation sustainable development goals (SDGs), the elements of the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool, and the triad components of the One Health approach.
Methods
A cross-walk exercise was conducted to identify commonalities among SDGs, JEE assessment tool, and One Health approach. An in-depth study of 10 global pharmaceutical firms' corporate sustainability reports and COVID-19 response plan for 2019–2020 was also conducted.
Results
The result of the exercise showed the existence of a direct and indirect relationship among the SDGs, elements of JEE assessment tool, and One Health approach. For example, both no poverty (SDG 1) and zero hunger (SDG 2) are linked with food safety targets under the JEE and with human and animal health under the One Health approach.
Conclusion
This study adds a new dimension emphasizing the possibility of tailoring the pharmaceutical industry's activities under the sustainability agenda to strengthen global health security while remaining consistent with the One Health approach.
This study is intended to afford a comprehensive overview of the implications of COVID-19 on progress toward achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) set out in the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda and the state of related research activities on COVID-19 linked to the SDGs. Bibliometric techniques and visual mapping are proposed as methodological tools to better approach the objectives of the present work. This includes: retrieving related publications from Scopus database, investigating the trends and growth trajectories of research works, and analyzing the scenarios post-COVID-19 either optimistic or pessimistic outlooks. The national and international contributions and collaboration toward this theme of research are further analyzed at countries, institutions, and sources levels. This analysis indicates that research works conducted on the impacts of COVID-19 on the achievement of the SDGs are still in the immaturity level. The global research productivity on this topic was just 160 documents (0.19% of total global research productivity in all fields of science with relevance to COVID-19). The implications of COVID-19 on good health and well-being, SDG-3, have attracted considerable attention. It is followed by SDG-13 that concerned with climate changes. The post-COVID-19 scenarios showed deep and justified worries in relation to achieving the SDGs by 2030. This study figures the major issues debated in the literature with respect to COVID-19 and its implications on the SDGs. The study, furthermore, attempts to assess the required actions to advance the SDGs post-COVID-19.
Aim
To develop and evaluate a Zambian context-specific mentorship model that supports registered nurses completing emergency, trauma and critical care programmes in Zambia.
Background
In Zambia, emergency and trauma and critical care nursing are relatively new specialties, with education and training programmes less than a decade old. A train the trainer mentorship programme was developed and delivered at two colleges of nursing. Ethics approval was gained in both Zambia and the UK.
Sources of evidence
Documentary data analysis and focus groups were used. Focus groups included stakeholders and nurses in practice who had completed the train the trainer programme and were using the mentorship model.
Discussion
The critical review of the literature revealed there was a paucity of evidence on the role of mentors in critical care. However, national documentation identified that most post basic education programmes are at Diploma Level with limited content that focuses on bedside teaching, mentorship and assessment content.
Conclusion
Feedback from representatives attending the stakeholder workshops and focus groups which included participants who had completed the training programme enabled the mentorship model and workshop to be developed and evaluated.
Implications for nursing practice
Nurses are the backbone of healthcare systems in Africa and the world. Mentorship and assessment in practice enables nurses to develop the competence and skills to lead practice, support peers and junior colleagues.
Implications for nursing policy
This paper has identified the need for a context-specific formalised mentorship model to support specialist practice and this project has provided the foundations for mentorship of emergency, trauma and critical care nurses in Zambia.
Revista GICOS, Volumen 6, Número 3
Background
Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is associated with diffuse lung damage. Glucocorticoids may modulate inflammation-mediated lung injury and thereby reduce progression to respiratory failure and death.
Methods
In this controlled, open-label trial comparing a range of possible treatments in patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19, we randomly assigned patients to receive oral or intravenous dexamethasone (at a dose of 6 mg once daily) for up to 10 days or to receive usual care alone. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Here, we report the preliminary results of this comparison.
Results
A total of 2104 patients were assigned to receive dexamethasone and 4321 to receive usual care. Overall, 482 patients (22.9%) in the dexamethasone group and 1110 patients (25.7%) in the usual care group died within 28 days after randomization (age-adjusted rate ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75 to 0.93; P<0.001). The proportional and absolute between-group differences in mortality varied considerably according to the level of respiratory support that the patients were receiving at the time of randomization. In the dexamethasone group, the incidence of death was lower than that in the usual care group among patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (29.3% vs. 41.4%; rate ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.81) and among those receiving oxygen without invasive mechanical ventilation (23.3% vs. 26.2%; rate ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.72 to 0.94) but not among those who were receiving no respiratory support at randomization (17.8% vs. 14.0%; rate ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.55).
Conclusions
In patients hospitalized with Covid-19, the use of dexamethasone resulted in lower 28-day mortality among those who were receiving either invasive mechanical ventilation or oxygen alone at randomization but not among those receiving no respiratory support. (Funded by the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research and others; RECOVERY ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04381936; ISRCTN number, 50189673.)
COVID-19 is exposing the fragility of the goals adopted by the United Nations — two-thirds are now unlikely to be met. COVID-19 is exposing the fragility of the goals adopted by the United Nations — two-thirds are now unlikely to be met.
Human coronaviruses continue to pose a threat to human health. The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 which causes coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), an acute respiratory disease marked the third introduction of a highly pathogenic coronavirus into the human population in the twenty-first century. This recent emergence of a previously unknown coronavirus in China leads to huge impacts on humans globally. Covid-19 is a challenge to global public health. Here, we discuss the COVID-19 outbreak in a one health context, highlighting the need for the implementation of one health measures and practices to improve human health and reduce the emergence of pandemic viruses.
This essay examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for health inequalities. It outlines historical and contemporary evidence of inequalities in pandemics—drawing on international research into the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, the H1N1 outbreak of 2009 and the emerging international estimates of socio-economic, ethnic and geographical inequalities in COVID-19 infection and mortality rates. It then examines how these inequalities in COVID-19 are related to existing inequalities in chronic diseases and the social determinants of health, arguing that we are experiencing a syndemicpandemic . It then explores the potential consequences for health inequalities of the lockdown measures implemented internationally as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the likely unequal impacts of the economic crisis. The essay concludes by reflecting on the longer-term public health policy responses needed to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not increase health inequalities for future generations.
Background
Although several therapeutic agents have been evaluated for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), none have yet been shown to be efficacious.
Methods
We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of intravenous remdesivir in adults hospitalized with Covid-19 with evidence of lower respiratory tract involvement. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either remdesivir (200 mg loading dose on day 1, followed by 100 mg daily for up to 9 additional days) or placebo for up to 10 days. The primary outcome was the time to recovery, defined by either discharge from the hospital or hospitalization for infection-control purposes only.
Results
A total of 1063 patients underwent randomization. The data and safety monitoring board recommended early unblinding of the results on the basis of findings from an analysis that showed shortened time to recovery in the remdesivir group. Preliminary results from the 1059 patients (538 assigned to remdesivir and 521 to placebo) with data available after randomization indicated that those who received remdesivir had a median recovery time of 11 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 9 to 12), as compared with 15 days (95% CI, 13 to 19) in those who received placebo (rate ratio for recovery, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.55; P<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier estimates of mortality by 14 days were 7.1% with remdesivir and 11.9% with placebo (hazard ratio for death, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.47 to 1.04). Serious adverse events were reported for 114 of the 541 patients in the remdesivir group who underwent randomization (21.1%) and 141 of the 522 patients in the placebo group who underwent randomization (27.0%).
Conclusions
Remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults hospitalized with Covid-19 and evidence of lower respiratory tract infection. (Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others; ACCT-1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04280705.)
Måns Nilsson, Dave Griggs and Martin Visbeck present a simple way of rating relationships between the targets to highlight priorities for integrated policy.
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