Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Good Health and Well-Being focuses on helping people live long, healthy, and happy lives. This means fighting against diseases, ensuring mothers and babies are safe during birth, and making sure everyone has access to doctors and medicine. It also includes promoting mental health and preventing accidents so that people of all ages can thrive.
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Good Health and Well-Being focuses on helping people live long, healthy, and happy lives. This means fighting against diseases, ensuring mothers and babies are safe during birth, and making sure everyone has access to doctors and medicine. It also includes promoting mental health and preventing accidents so that people of all ages can thrive.
Introduction to Goal 3
A curriculum designed for Goal 3 that inspires the values and competencies behind this mission for grades 5-12.
Featured Lesson: Creative Writing
Through Their Eyes: Exploring Global Goal 3 with Third-Person Limited Narratives
Dive into Goal 3 through the lens of creative writing. This lesson provides hands-on activities and creative exploration designed to bring the concepts to life for students.
Lessons
Musical Exploration
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through musical exploration.
My Healthy Self: A Self-Portrait Journey for Global Goal 3
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through art.
Health Tales: Stories for a Healthy World
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through creative writing.
A Global Dance Party for Wellbeing
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through dance/movement.
Feeling Strong: Drama for our Hearts and Minds
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through drama.
Healthy Beats
Explore Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages through music.
These learning objectives are organized into five categories that together form a comprehensive approach to understanding and engaging with this goal.
Knowledge
- •
Identify and define different aspects of health and well-being, including physical health (body), mental health (mind), emotional health (feelings), and social health (friendships).
(NCCAS: .1.MS, .1.MS) - •
Recognize that everyone deserves to be healthy and feel good, and that health challenges can affect people in many different ways and places.
(Cn10.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Understand that taking care of ourselves and others helps build a healthy community and world.
(Cn10.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS)
Discourse
- •
Explore and describe how emotions and messages about health and well-being are expressed through various art forms (visual art, creative writing, dance, drama, music) by reflecting on visuals, words, movement, sounds, and stories.
(Re7.1.MS, Re8.1.MS) - •
Participate in respectful discussions about different feelings, health challenges, and helpful actions people can take to support their own well-being and the well-being of others.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Communicate their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas about Global Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being through creative expression in various artistic mediums.
(Cr3.1.MS)
Attitudes
- •
Develop empathy and compassion for individuals and communities facing health challenges, understanding the importance of kindness and support.
(Re8.1.MS, Cn10.1.MS) - •
Appreciate the value of feeling healthy and well in all aspects of life (body, mind, feelings, and friendships), recognizing it as important for everyone.
(Cn.11.1.MS) - •
Cultivate a positive and open mindset towards understanding and addressing health topics, fostering a desire to contribute to a healthier world for all.
(Re9.1.MS)
Capacity
- •
Develop critical thinking skills by observing and discussing how different artistic elements can represent feelings, challenges, and solutions related to health and well-being.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn10.1.MS) - •
Practice collaboration and communication skills through engaging in group art projects, shared writing, and coordinated movement, drama or musical performances to tell stories about health and well-being.
(Cr2.1.MS, Pr5.1.MS) - •
Develop creative expression skills through purposeful experimentation with diverse artistic mediums (visual art, creative writing, dance, drama, music) to communicate their understandings and feelings about Good Health and Well-being.
(Cr3.1.MS)
Action
- •
Identify simple and age-appropriate actions they can take to improve their own health and well-being (e.g., eating healthy, exercising, expressing feelings, getting enough sleep).
(Pr6.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Explore and develop meaningful ways to contribute to the achievement of Global Goal 3 within their local communities and beyond, through acts of kindness, sharing knowledge, or supporting healthy practices.
(Cr3.1.MS, Pr6.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS) - •
Reflect on their personal role in creating a healthier and more supportive world for all, fostering a sense of responsible global citizenship.
(Re9.1.MS, Cn11.1.MS)
Empowering youth to become active agents of change in the pursuit of ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages. Recognizing that even small, consistent actions can contribute to a larger global impact.
Taking Action Beyond the Classroom
Here are ways your students can extend their learning and apply their understanding of Global Goal 3 in their wider community and beyond.
Become a Wellbeing Messenger: Choose a powerful piece created in the lessons. Share it with family, friends, or a school club to advocate for mental health and well-being. Use art to tell a powerful story about the importance of talking about feelings. -
Concrete Action: Aim to share your creative work and three healthy coping strategies with at least three people outside of school.
Design a Global Health Hero Profile: Research a real person (a doctor, scientist, community health worker, or activist) who helped reduce the burden of a preventable disease like malaria or tuberculosis, or who improved maternal/child health in a developing country. Write a short paragraph or create a dramatic monologue detailing their contribution. -
Concrete Action: Research a Global Health Hero and present their story, focusing on the specific disease or health issue they addressed.
Launch a Safety Signage Art Contest: Create an art contest for younger students to design clear, creative, and attention-grabbing safety signs (e.g., "Slow Down Near School Zone," "Safe Storage of Cleaning Supplies"). -
Concrete Action: Organize a simple Safety Signage Contest and display the winning designs in high-traffic areas of your school or local community center.
Create a Positive Practices Playlist: Inspired by the "Healthy Beats" lesson, curate a shared playlist of songs (or write new song verses) that promote positive prevention and treatment behaviors related to exercise or emotional regulation. Share the playlist with the class or school library. -
Concrete Action: Create and share a themed "Positive Practices Playlist" with at least ten songs that clearly relate to mental well-being or healthy choices.
Benchmarking Progress
A quick view of the official UN targets for this goal paired with the indicators that track global progress. Use these to connect classroom inquiry with real-world data.
Target 3.1
By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.
Indicators
- 3.1.1
Maternal mortality ratio.
- 3.1.2
Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel.
Target 3.2
By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.
Indicators
- 3.2.1
Under-five mortality rate.
- 3.2.2
Neonatal mortality rate.
Target 3.3
By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.
Indicators
- 3.3.1
Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations.
- 3.3.2
Tuberculosis incidence per 100,000 population.
- 3.3.3
Malaria incidence per 1,000 population.
- 3.3.4
Hepatitis B incidence per 100,000 population.
- 3.3.5
Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases.
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.
Indicators
- 3.4.1
Mortality rate attributed to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease.
- 3.4.2
Suicide mortality rate.
Target 3.5
Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.
Indicators
- 3.5.1
Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders.
- 3.5.2
Alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol.
Target 3.6
By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.
Indicators
- 3.6.1
Death rate due to road traffic injuries.
Target 3.7
By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.
Indicators
- 3.7.1
Proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods.
- 3.7.2
Adolescent birth rate (aged 10-14 years; aged 15-19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group.
Target 3.8
Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
Indicators
- 3.8.1
Coverage of essential health services.
- 3.8.2
Proportion of population with large household expenditures on health as a share of total household expenditure or income.
Target 3.9
By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.
Indicators
- 3.9.1
Mortality rate attributed to household and ambient air pollution.
- 3.9.2
Mortality rate attributed to unsafe water, unsafe sanitation and lack of hygiene (exposure to unsafe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All (WASH) services).
- 3.9.3
Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisoning.
Target 3.a
Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate.
Indicators
- 3.a.1
Age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older.
Target 3.b
Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, which affirms the right of developing countries to use to the full the provisions in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights regarding flexibilities to protect public health, and, in particular, provide access to medicines for all.
Indicators
- 3.b.1
Proportion of the target population covered by all vaccines included in their national programme.
- 3.b.2
Total net official development assistance to medical research and basic health sectors.
- 3.b.3
Proportion of health facilities that have a core set of relevant essential medicines available and affordable on a sustainable basis.
Target 3.c
Substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States.
Indicators
- 3.c.1
Health worker density and distribution.
Target 3.d
Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.
Indicators
- 3.d.1
International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity and health emergency preparedness.
- 3.d.2
Percentage of bloodstream infections due to selected antimicrobial-resistant organisms.