Goal 3 of 17

Good health and well-being

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

What this goal is about

Goal 3 is about people living long, healthy lives wherever they are born. It covers mothers and newborns, infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, long-term conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, mental health, road safety, pollution and the cost of care.

The centre of the goal is universal health coverage: everyone can get the care they need without falling into hardship to pay for it. In 2023, about 4.6 billion people still lacked full access to essential health services, and in 2022 about 2.1 billion faced financial hardship from paying for care out of their own pockets.

Health links to almost every other goal. Sick children miss school, families sell assets to pay hospital bills, and businesses lose staff to illness and burnout. Progress since 2015 is real but uneven, and several targets, including maternal deaths and malaria, are well off track for 2030.

260,000women died from pregnancy-related causesUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, 2023

4.9 millionchildren died before their fifth birthdayUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, 2024

4.6 billionpeople lacked access to essential health servicesUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 (WHO and World Bank data), 2023

2.1 billionpeople faced financial hardship from out-of-pocket health spendingUnited Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 (WHO and World Bank data), 2022

The main targets

3.1

Cut the global maternal death ratio to below 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.

3.2

End preventable deaths of newborns and children under five, with every country reaching low neonatal and under-five death rates.

3.3

End the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, and fight hepatitis and other communicable diseases.

3.4

Reduce early deaths from non-communicable diseases by a third through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.

3.6

Halve global deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes (the original deadline was 2020).

3.8

Achieve universal health coverage: quality essential services, safe affordable medicines and vaccines, and protection from ruinous health costs.

3.9

Substantially reduce deaths and illness from hazardous chemicals and from air, water and soil pollution.

3.c

Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, training and retention of health workers in developing countries.

Summaries in plain English. The full wording of every target and indicator is on the UN Goal 3 page.

What businesses can do

Look after mental health at work. Train managers to spot distress and respond well, and adjust workloads, hours and return-to-work plans. WHO estimates 12 billion working days are lost each year to depression and anxiety.
Give staff real health cover. Provide health insurance or a clear medical allowance, and include dependants where you can. Check local rules first: in the UAE, employers must buy basic cover for private sector staff.
Make driving and riding safer. If your team drives or rides for work, set safe schedules, fund helmets and training, and never reward speed. Road crashes kill about 1.19 million people a year.
Cut pollution you control. Reduce fumes, dust and chemical exposure in your premises and supply chain, and ask suppliers how they protect workers' health.
Build health products carefully. If you build health apps or services, design for privacy, low bandwidth and local languages, and test with real patients and clinicians before you scale.

What you can do

Keep vaccinations up to date. Check your own and your family's vaccination records with a doctor or clinic. In 2024, 14.3 million children received no vaccines at all.
Wear the helmet, fasten the belt. Most road deaths are preventable. Wear a helmet on two-wheelers, use seat belts, and do not ride or drive with someone who is distracted or drunk.
Talk about mental health. Check in on friends, learn where local helplines are, and ask a trusted adult or professional for help when things feel heavy.
Learn first aid and volunteer. A short first-aid course or volunteering with a recognised health charity builds skills that help people around you.

Where digital tools help

Software helps most on Goal 3 where it does plain, reliable work: health information systems that let ministries count cases and stock, shared records that follow a patient between clinics, telemedicine that brings a doctor to a remote health centre, and logistics that get blood and vaccines to the right place. Examples include DHIS2, used as the national health data system in more than 80 low and middle income countries, and India's eSanjeevani telemedicine service. Technology does not replace nurses, medicines or roads, and health data needs strong privacy and security from day one.

Mobile apps Automation