To mark World Health Day, a new report has highlighted the crucial role of nursing in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
In 2015, UN member states agreed on 17 SDGs. These include ending poverty and hunger, good health and education for all, access to clean water and sanitation, empowering women and girls, economic growth, and combatting climate change. Combined, these factors affect health outcomes.
Leaving No-One Behind, the report from the Royal College of Nursing, shows that nursing roles are varied and complex, touching many communities and individuals, while nursing staff are widely trusted by the public. This unique position allows nursing staff to deliver better health outcomes and wider social change – key goals of the SDGs.
The RCN pinpoints a number of examples of staff making changes to achieve these goals. For example, senior staff nurse Harriet Dean-Orange is helping staff in her workplace reduce waste by cutting down on disposable health care items. Mental health nurse Hilda Campbell founded Scottish charity COPE, which highlights the connections between inequalities and mental health problems. Meanwhile, in London, Dorcas Gwata uses a public health approach in her outreach work with young people at risk of exploitation.
The RCN report recommends that the government invests in nursing and midwifery, alongside efforts to improve population health and reduce health inequalities, in order to achieve the SDGs. The RCN would like to see a Chief Nursing Officer for England at the heart of the UK government’s Department of Health and Social Care. The SDGs should also be a key part of nursing education, with emphasis on health inequalities and the social determinants of health.
Anne Marie Rafferty, RCN President, said: “Throughout the pandemic nursing and midwifery staff around the world have risen to unimaginable challenges and demonstrated skill, expertise, professionalism and extraordinary commitment to putting patients first. It has demonstrated the significant contributions nurses and midwives are making to tackling some of the most difficult challenges and injustices facing our communities, including poverty, inequality and climate change.
“This report highlights just some examples of how nurses and midwives are contributing to the SDGs in the UK. The SDGs are a powerful tool for us to advocate for our patients and communities, and a mechanism through which we can demonstrate our impact. Health – and wider – inequalities are being exacerbated by the pandemic in the UK and across the world. Concerted and sustained action is needed by governments, stakeholders, and individuals to achieve the SDGs within the decade.”
