SDG #3 is to “To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”
Within SDG #3 are 13 targets, of which we here focus on Target 3.4:
By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being
Target 3.4 has two indicators:
Indicator 3.4.1: Mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease
Indicator 3.4.2: Suicide mortality rate
Non-communicable diseases are those diseases for which a pathogen is not responsible for the transmission of the disease, infecting the host, such as parasites. As indicator 3.4.1 makes clear, the most well-known non-communicable diseases are those affecting the heart and blood vessels, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease. To measure well-being, or quality of life, and the mental aspects thereof, the official UN indicator for the total opposite of wellbeing, suicide, is used as the measure.
To measure both indicators in this target, the World Health Organisation compiles mortality data within its Mortality Index, based upon the reporting of Member States. Complementing SDG #3 in the fight against non-communicable diseases is the NCD Global Monitoring Framework, which like the SDGs, is a framework of goals and indicators adopted by the member countries of the WHO’s World Health Assembly in 2013 for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.
As of 2019, the expected share of deaths of non-communicable diseases for the world is 18%, down 1% from 2015, far from the target to reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases.
The global suicide rate in 2019 is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 people, down only by a fraction since 2015, however target 3.4’s wording of “promoting mental health and wellbeing” does not provide a target with which this indicato should be reduced by.
