1. What are the SDGs?

The 17 SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, are part of a comprehensive agenda framing global sustainable development up to 2030. The SDGs build upon and extend the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): they tackle the MDGs’ “unfinished business” by continuing the fight against poverty and hunger, but also focus on human rights for all, and on the empowerment of women and girls as part of the push to achieve gender equality. They integrate all 3 dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) around the themes of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.

The SDGs, which are underpinned by 169 targets, recognize that eradicating poverty and inequality, creating inclusive economic growth, and preserving the planet are inextricably linked not only to each other but also to population health, and that the relationships between each of these elements are dynamic and reciprocal.