How healthy is a ‘healthy’ economy? A closer look into SDG goals

To realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) everywhere, governments should abandon Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as a policy objective and place more emphasis on SDG17 on global co-operation. That is one of the main conclusions of the paper ‘ ‘How healthy is a ‘healthy economy’? Incompatibility between current pathways towards SDG3 and SDG8’ by Wemos’ global health advocates Mariska Meurs, Lisa Seidelmann and Myria Koutsoumpa, published today in the academic journal Globalization & Health.

They examined the incoherence between the economic growth and health goals of the Sustainable Development Goals in Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania – three countries where Wemos has been working with partner organisations. Our findings clearly demonstrate that – in order to reach the levels of health investment required to realize the SDG3 – countries would need levels of GDP growth that they have never before witnessed. Even if this highly unlikely event were to happen in a distinct future, our country analyses underline the fact that GDP growth is still no guarantee for an increase in government health spending or poverty reduction.

Myria Koutsoumpa: “The findings and conclusions of this paper will contribute to Wemos’ evidence-based advocacy for universal health coverage and strong health systems financed by domestic resources, without restrictions and conditionality in their fiscal space.”

Read the article here.