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,

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Volume 156, July 2025

World Food Day is a timely opportunity to raise awareness about food allergies. This collection of articles recently published in JACI covers a range of issues and treatments surrounding food allergy

This content aligns with Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being by pursuing a respectful and reciprocal relationship between Indigenous and Western scientific ways of knowing about human brains and minds.

This content aligns with Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing and Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure by discussing the multifactorial influences that contribute to Alzheimer's Disease progression.

This study identified seven distinct area-level deprivation trajectories in Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2016 and found that upward social mobility was generally linked to reduced risk of poor health outcomes, while downward mobility increased such risks compared to stable deprivation groups. Notably, a dose-response relationship emerged between lower deprivation at the endpoint and better health outcomes, though one upwardly mobile group exhibited unexpectedly high health risks, underscoring the complexity of social mobility's impact on health.

The article reports widespread exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical di-n-hexyl phthalate (DnHxP) in Danish pregnant women, children, and adults, with significantly higher exposures during the summer months, likely due to contamination of the UV-filter diethylamino hydroxybenzyl hexyl benzoate (DHHB) in sunscreen products

Elsevier,

Journal of Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders, 2025, 100124

This study examined racial/ethnic disparities in the surgical management of endometriosis using data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) 2017-2019 cycle.�

World map with SDG icons and people

Recognising our customer's efforts to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The article discusses the critical role of the mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system (MICOS) complex in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It highlights how MICOS abnormalities, including subunit dysfunction and interactions with disease-associated proteins, to hallmark AD pathologies such as amyloid-β accumulation, neurofibrillary tangle formation, and neuronal apoptosis. The article suggests that targeting MICOS subunits with pharmacological interventions may provide novel therapeutic insights for AD treatment.
The article discusses the need for and challenges of developing combination therapies for Alzheimer's disease, given the complex and multifactorial nature of the disease. As of 2024, there were 21 combination trials in the pipeline, primarily involving repurposed agents targeting processes like inflammation, senescence, and amyloid-tau interactions. Key challenges include distinguishing individual drug effects and managing the operational complexity of combination trials.f
The article discusses the potential of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GRA) as novel therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) like Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). GRA have shown promising effects in modulating neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial and autophagic functions, and protein misfolding in preclinical studies. Clinical trials have demonstrated that GRA like exenatide, liraglutide, and lixisenatide can improve motor deficits in PD and cognitive function in AD patients.

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