Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are essential tenets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global objectives designed to address various social, economic, and environmental challenges. These concepts are not only integral to specific SDGs but also permeate the entire framework, emphasizing the need for equitable and inclusive approaches in all aspects of development.

SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality) are directly connected to the principles of diversity and inclusion. SDG 10 aims to reduce inequality within and among countries. This involves taking measures to ensure the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, regardless of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status. It calls for the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, providing equal opportunities and reducing disparities, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.

SDG 5 focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. This goal underscores the need for ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere, and it involves various targets including the elimination of violence, ensuring women's full participation in leadership and decision-making, and guaranteeing equal rights to economic resources. By promoting gender equality, SDG 5 directly contributes to the broader objective of creating inclusive societies.

Furthermore, diversity and inclusion are crucial in achieving SDG 4 (Quality Education), which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This involves addressing disparities in access to education and ensuring that vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations, receive equal opportunities for education. Inclusive education is a foundation for building more inclusive societies, as it prepares all individuals to participate fully in their communities and economies.

SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) also embodies the values of diversity and inclusion. It promotes sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. This includes advocating for equal pay for work of equal value, promoting safe and inclusive working environments, and reducing the gender pay gap. By ensuring that all individuals have access to decent work opportunities and are treated fairly in the workplace, SDG 8 plays a pivotal role in advancing inclusive economic growth.

The pursuit of diversity and inclusion is indispensable for realizing the vision of the SDGs. These principles are not confined to specific goals but are woven throughout the entire framework, reflecting the understanding that a fair, sustainable, and prosperous world can only be achieved when all individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances, have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from development. The SDGs recognize that addressing inequalities, empowering marginalized groups, and ensuring inclusive participation are essential for sustainable development, and they call on all stakeholders, including governments, businesses, civil society, and individuals, to work towards these objectives.

The Loring Airforce Base (AFB) in Aroostook County, Maine, USA was active from 1947 through 1994. Like many military sites, it has a substantial history of pollution from a wide variety of toxins. Currently, some of the AFB land belongs to the Micmac Nation, an Indigenous tribe, who are very concerned about the contamination on the land. Starting in 2019, a group of community activists, research scientists, and tribal members came together to test methods for cleaning the land. This backstory features perspectives from six project participants.
The National Association of Disabled Staff Networks (NADSN) is a super-network that connects and represents disabled staff networks at organisations across the United Kingdom. NADSN has been very concerned about the development of national policy up to this time and for moving out of the COVID-19 lockdown stage as national policy has been silent in relation to disabled staff apart from in presenting a narrow, medicalised view.
This article supports SGDs 3 and 10 by identifying ethnicity-specific body-mass index cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk-equivalence to the cutoff in White populations. The findings suggest ethnicity-specific body-mass index cutoffs are needed to optimise prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.
Elsevier,

eClinicalMedicine, Volume 37, July 2021

This Research paper supports SDGs 3 and 10 by characterising racial disparities among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2. The findings showed that Black women were more likely to have occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 than White women and that Black women with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy were more likely to have a preterm delivery.
Elsevier,

The Lancet Global Health, Volume 9, July 2021

This Comment article advances SDG 3 and 10 by highlighting the disproportionate imbalance of power in global health research, and calls for reforms in publishing and academia to ensure greater representation of global health researchers from low-income and middle-income countries in prestigious, high-impact journals.
This Comment article advances SDG 3 and 10 by making a case for bridging language barriers in global health research and overcoming the colonial legacy of language in global health (from the naming of infectious diseases to the use of global health terms with problematic historical connotations), with the aim of facilitating knowledge co-production and more equal research partnerships.
This study supports SDGs 3 and 10 by investigating the role of genetic ancestry in ethnic disparities in type 2 diabetes, and interactions with socioeconomic deprivation. The effects of environmental risk factors were found to differ among ancestry groups, suggesting the need for group-specific interventions.
Research activism to urgently improve Indigenous perinatal health and wellbeing.
This study supports SDG 3 and 10 by highlighting an overrepresentation of Black children and adolescents in involuntary psychiatric hospitalisations, which may establish potentially lifelong negative mental health treatment trajectories and contribute to cycles of health inequality that persist in later life.
Graph showing number of significant and non-significant average effects reported across 36 meta-analyses of the effects of physical activity interventions on different health outcomes among children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities.

Approximately 1·5 billion people worldwide live with a physical, mental, sensory, or intellectual disability, about 80% of which are in low-income and middle-income countries. This Series paper provides a global overview of the prevalence, benefits, and promotion policies for physical activity for people living with disabilities (PLWD). PLWD are 16–62% less likely to meet physical activity guidelines and are at higher risk of serious health problems related to inactivity than people without disabilities.

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