What will it take to implement health and health-related sustainable development goals?

Abstract

### Summary box In two previous publications, we have described and summarised key findings from the global systematic review and country consultations related to our assessment of the progress in implementing the health and health-related sustainable development goals (HHSDGs). Although it has been only 5 years but current evidence on the implementation of sustainable development goal (SDG) evaluations to date suggests that a vast majority of countries are off-target in relation to several outcome indicators1–3 and there are no clear strategies for integration across health and other sectors. This paper will summarise the key learnings from this exercise and propose a strategy for enhancing integration and implementation of HHSDGs in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our systematic review4 of the global evidence on the implementation of HHSDGs highlighted several important factors: 1. There are as yet no standardised metrics regarding progress and implementation globally that cover HHSDGs. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation has developed and proposed a global SDG index, which has also been used to track progress5; however, this has as yet not received widespread acceptance or recognition. At …