Tag: 17 SDGs

• The Global Mental Health Crisis

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  Many of us have heard of the climate crisis, and whilst important, it often overshadows the global mental health crisis which is simultaneously occurring. This post discusses how many influential actors – governments – are failing to support their nations.

  I am writing this post on World Mental Health Day (10th October 2024), on which the United Nations released a post encouraging healthy and safe environments in the workplace. They state, “Mental health at work is a global issue that needs immediate attention”. If they believe this to be true, how can there be no mention of mental health in any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals? Goal 3 is labelled “good health and well-being”, mental health contributes to obtaining “good health” so why is there no target to improve this, especially since 75% of suicides occur in low or middle-income countries.

  There are 92 countries involved in 56 different conflicts around the world, and as you can imagine conflict and poverty have a direct negative impact on mental health, with 1 in 6 young children living in an area of armed conflict. These children are not only exposed to acts of violence and death, but they are more prone to be victims of sexual assault and disease which both have the potential to feed into the development of mental health problems. Additionally, low-income countries have fewer than one mental health staff per 100,000 people with 40% unable to obtain essential medications required to treat certain mental disorders, e.g., mood stabilisers for bipolar disorder.

  In the UK, a country with a GDP of 3.089 trillion USD, 50% of children and young adults do not receive the treatment they need due to the lack of mental healthcare resources. We are considered a developed country, where our access to resources provides us with a high quality of life, but our mental health services do not reflect this.

  If you have a business mind, 1 trillion USD worth of productivity is lost in the global economy due to depression and anxiety alone per year. Think about the potential we could be reaching if we invested in societies, $1 trillion could irradicate malaria or end global poverty.

  Sweden is considered to be the country coping with the mental health crisis most effectively. Their key movements have been:

  • Investments in research relating to the treatment and identification of mental disorders, especially in children and adolescence
  • Providing early intervention of mental disorders
  • Investments in schools to help identify those at risk of developing mental health problems AND provide them with the support they require
  • Providing grants to non-profits who work on mental health and suicide prevention intending to spread knowledge, awareness and support
  • Providing youth clinics which do not require registration
  • Introduction of a national system identifying areas with excess capacity to reduce the wait times of treatment

  We cannot maintain well-being without accounting for mental health. We cannot maintain good health without accounting for physical and mental health. Therefore, we cannot maintain sustainable development without accounting for mental health. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds in the UK, and for every suicide, there are even more attempts. These figures are increasing each year, let’s break the stigma, mental health doesn’t just exist on one day of the year.

  Below are some charities that offer mental health support:

  • Mind
  • No Panic
  • CALM
  • Samaritans

  • Young Minds
  • Anxiety UK
  • Bipolar UK
  • OCD UK

  11th Oct 2024

  17 SDGs, Global Crisis, Mental Health, Sustainable Development

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• Why We Need Sustainable Development

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  The aim of sustainable development is to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations, this also refers to societies having acceptable resources and living conditions that do not take away from the planet (see Defining Sustainability).

  When discussing sustainability, climate change is often one of the main topics to arise. Whilst this is important, there are other factors which should be considered in order to be truly sustainable. Below I have identified seven main consequences of hundreds of years of unsustainable actions which we should focus on improving.

  Poverty: those living without the necessary financial resources, often due to conflict, poor governance, gender or ethnic inequality, exploitation, and domestic violence. Currently, 700 million people live in poverty worldwide, which is more than double the population of America.

  Health: our physical and emotional well-being, good health is considered living without injury, disease and pain. Those living in poverty will most often experience poor health due to a lack of financial stability and/or accessibility to adequate health care. Having a restricted income not only means medical treatments cannot be paid for, but a healthy diet cannot be maintained and therefore is likely to lead to malnutrition and long-term health problems.

  Education: conveying knowledge and skills is highly important for securing a fulfilling job which has adequate pay. In 2016, 750 million of the global population of adults were illiterate, 2 out of 3 being women, the cause of this is often a lack of access to schooling, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Education is a human right giving everyone equal opportunity to explore their potential.

  Inequality: the disparity of opportunity, this may take the form of gender, ethnicity, or wealth… to name a few. By reducing opportunities for certain groups of people we are limiting our potential, everyone has their own skillset which can contribute to developing a sustainable planet. No one knows everything, we need to work together to create innovative solutions to everyday issues.

  Economics: economic inequality is the distribution of income across a population. Economists like to dispute equality vs. equity, equality means everyone receives the same resources whereas equity refers to individuals/populations receiving different resources based on their needs to reach equality.

  This theme also links to promoting policies that encourage productive activities, end forced and child labour, and promote safe working conditions. 1 in 10 children are forced into child labour, half of which are in hazardous conditions severely endangering their health.

  Climate change: the most recognised theme of unsustainability refers to the increased atmospheric temperature and number of extreme weather events. Whilst some temperature shifts are natural, humans are increasing the speed at which the change is occurring more than three times as fast. It is believed that the earth will surpass dangerous temperatures within the next 10 years unless we make dramatic, sustainable changes.

  Earth preservation: the earth’s resources are limited, so conserving them for future generations is vital for survival, this refers to non-renewable resources such as oil, coal and gold, as well as the natural environment, i.e., forests, water, species, and land. To put this into perspective, it is expected that we will run out of oil in less than 50 years. There may be sources of oil we are unaware of, however, these are economically unavailable and therefore unattainable, on top of oil being a fossil fuel and extremely harmful to the environment. Once our oil reserves have depleted, we will be forced to use alternative, renewable forms of energy for heating, electricity and powering vehicles. The earlier we start this conversion the better.

  None of these themes occur in isolation, they often arise in succession. Additionally, many of the above, such as poverty and health, require international collaboration between developed and developing countries. This may be through financial aid, training, donation of equipment or distribution of knowledge. If governments of developed countries were to invest more in international aid to reduce poverty, charities such as Oxfam could focus on tackling climate-related issues rather than basic living conditions, speeding up the process of sustainable development.

  The United Nations focuses on international peace, setting 17 Sustainable Development Goals which are designed to tackle the discussed challenges, these are to be achieved by 2030, but as of 2024 none of these goals have been met with progress severely behind schedule. As a result, these targets have been criticised for their lack of measurability, as well as individual countries being responsible for making their own plans for meeting these goals. The lack of structure for achieving these targets means they’re left up to interpretation and in turn misinterpretation, which becomes an excuse for not achieving the goals. Perhaps the goals are too ambitious, or maybe there is not enough responsibility being taken for these developments? Having said that, this is the only international effort in place to overcome the sustainability crisis; therefore, we must work with these targets to achieve a sustainable world.

  

  Overall, climate change is just one of many challenges we face as a result of unsustainability. Working towards these goals set by the UN will provide us with the sustainable development needed to survive, however, we need to take more responsibility for our actions and encourage those with the resources, whether that be capital, knowledge or leadership to propel the change we need.

  10th Sep 2024

  17 SDGs, Economics, Governance, International Aid, Politics, Sustainable Development, United Nations

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