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,

Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture, The Developmental Theory of Embodiment, 2017, Pages 201-256

This chapter advances goals 3 and 5 by examining how the adult women can recapture physical and mental freedom, empowering relationships and membership in equitable communities.
Elsevier,

Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture, The Developmental Theory of Embodiment, 2017, Pages 1-42

This chapter advances goals 3 and 5 by examining the description of the Developmental Theory of Embodiment, including two personal examples.
Elsevier,

Health Reform Policy to Practice, Oregon's Path to a Sustainable Health System: A Study in Innovation, 2017, Pages 313-332

Offers valuable lessons to develop new payment and delivery models for affordable care that aim to realign incentives and emphasize accountability for quality and efficiency.
Elsevier,

Chronic Kidney Disease in Disadvantaged Populations, 2017, Pages 209-217

This book chapter advances SDGs 3 and 10 by providing a summary of recent studies of the relation of poverty to chronic kidney disease and related outcomes.
This book chapter advances SDGs 3 and 10 by ensuring equitable access to medications, technologies and clinical care are central to service delivery for effective screening, prevention and kidney disease management.
Elsevier, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Volume 40, June 2017
Although sexual minority women (SMW) and transgender women have become increasingly visible in recent years and have made progress in achieving civil rights, they continue to face significant levels of discrimination, stigma, and physical violence. As a result, each group faces a wide variety of health disparities, including mental illness and substance use disorders. Overall, both SMW and transgender women experience higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders, suicidality, and substance use disorders than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts.
Elsevier, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Volume 60, June 2017
Running is a popular and convenient leisure-time physical activity (PA) with a significant impact on longevity. In general, runners have a 25%–40% reduced risk of premature mortality and live approximately 3 years longer than non-runners. Recently, specific questions have emerged regarding the extent of the health benefits of running versus other types of PA, and perhaps more critically, whether there are diminishing returns on health and mortality outcomes with higher amounts of running.
Elsevier,

Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine (Third Edition), Gender in the Genomic Era, 2017, Pages 733-741

The chapter explores gender-specific medicine. It advances SDG Goal, Gender Equality, by ensuring gender is considered in treatments of illness and disease.
This chapter advances SDGs 3, 10, and 16 by focusing particularly on the evolutionary/cognitive explanations of racial categorization.

Neurochemical Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, Biomarkers, and Potential Treatment Strategies, 2017, Pages 47-91

This book chapter advances SDG #3 and #10 by reviewing the risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease, including normal aging, diet, sedentary lifestyle, sleep disturbances, genes [amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1 (PSEN1), PSEN2, and APOE], environmental factors, and epigenetic factors.

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