Healthy Cities in the SDG Era - 2. Good Health and Wellbeing

2. Good Health and Wellbeing

01/22/21 • 44 min

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Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, holds as its objective, ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages. Its targets encompass a broad range of areas, from improving maternal and child health outcomes, reducing premature death from non-communicable diseases and promoting mental health and well-being, to ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.

SDG 3 is one of the two foundational SDGs of our series, alongside SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Throughout the series, we’ll explore the ways that these SDGs intersect with other goals, including gender equality, education, reducing inequalities, zero hunger, and climate action. This episode will feature both global and Canadian perspectives on how we can address SDG3, from community interventions to system-level approaches.

Sujata Mishra is a PhD candidate in Health Economics, at the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. She is a student in the Collaborative Specialization in Global Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research focuses on community health workers in India called Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHAs in India, and their role in reducing maternal and child mortality and improving their health outcomes.

Dr. Sara Allin is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She is the Director of Operations at the North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Dr. Allin also works as a Senior Researcher with the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Her research focuses on improving health system performance in Canada and other high-income countries.

CREDITS: This podcast is co-hosted by Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero, Director of the Centre for Global Health, and Ophelia Michaelides, Manager of the Centre for Global Health, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and produced by Elizabeth Loftus. Audio editing is by Anwaar Baobeid. Music is produced by Julien Fortier and Patrick May. It is made with the support of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto.

Previous Episode

1. What are the SDGs, and why is a Canadian university talking about them?

In September 2015, Canada and 192 other countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a global framework that is described as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet.”

In the first episode of Healthy Cities in the SDG Era, Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero will speak to two experts who are working towards achieving these goals about what the SDGs are, why they matter to Canada, and how work at the University of Toronto is helping to achieve them.

Margaret Biggs is Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy at Queen’s University, Chairperson of the Board of Governors for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Vice Chair of the Canadian Partnership on Women’s and Children’s Health (CanWaCH). Ms. Biggs previously served as President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and was responsible for overseeing Canada’s international development and humanitarian assistance efforts worldwide, including Canada’s G8 Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. She is an active contributor on issues related to Canada and global sustainable development. In 2018 she co-authored “A Canadian North Star: Crafting an advanced economy approach to the Sustainable Development Goals” at the Brookings Institution. Ms. Biggs is Board Chair of World University Services Canada and member of the Advisory Council for FinDevCanada.

Dr. Joseph Wong is the Vice-President, International for the University of Toronto. He is the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He formerly held the Canada Research Chair in health, development and democracy for two terms. His research focuses on poverty and innovation, and he has an extensive background of working with the World Bank and the United Nations, and has advised governments around the world on matters of public policy.

Next Episode

3. Sustainable Cities and Communities

Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, focuses on making cities and settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. This is significant, as currently half of the global population, or 3.5 billion people, live in cities today, and a projected 5 billion people, or 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030.

SDG 11 is one of the two foundational SDGs of Healthy Cities in the SDG Era, alongside SDG3: Good Health and Wellbeing. Throughout the series, we’ll explore the ways that these SDGs intersect with other goals, including gender equality, education, reducing inequalities, zero hunger, and climate action.

Dr. Patricia O’Campo is the Interim Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, a Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Population Health Intervention Research and has an established program of research focused on policies and health, and how urban and social policies can ensure people are healthy.

Garrett Morgan is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto working under the co-supervision of Dr. Blake Poland at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Dr. John Robinson at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Garrett is also a student in the Collaborative Specializations in Global Health and Environment and Health, at U of T. He is an urban planner and sustainable development consultant with professional experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in rural, suburban, and urban environments in Canada and the United States. His research explores the relationships between resilience, sustainability, and equity in Toronto’s marginalized communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy Cities in the SDG Era - 2. Good Health and Wellbeing

Transcript

Ophelia Michaelides [00:00:05] Welcome to Healthy Cities in the SDG era, a podcast where we'll talk about the Sustainable Development Goals and how we can achieve them from the perspective of a global health focused center at an academic institution in Canada's most populous city, Toronto. We're recording from Toronto or take Tkaronto on the traditional land of the Mississauga of the new Credit First Nation, Anishinaabe, Wendat Huron and Haudenosaunee Indigenous Peoples. The t