Sustainable Development Goal 3

SDG Goal 3 Leadership Forum
hosted by GlobeScan / Johnson & Johnson

Learn from the perspectives of 200 guest contributors who explored how building the capacity of front-line health workers in lower- and middle-income countries is critical if public health in these countries is to be improved.
Read the full report from our online discussion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.

What is Sustainable Development Goal 3?

SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Discussion Summary

A focus on education and training — from curriculum standardization and knowledge-sharing models to improving access to fundamentally changing gendered societal norms — was highlighted as key to building the capacity of health workers, with many successful case studies shared.
For large private sector and non-profit organizations looking for ways to help, Forum participants pointed to the support required in building management capacity, developing effective partnerships, and assisting with advocacy.

Key Learnings

Overwhelmingly, Forum experts see better education and training as the top priority for boosting the capacity of health workers in low- and middle-income countries. To be effective, health workers need to receive a thorough grounding in the basics, such as literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking skills. Health workers then need a coordinated, ongoing, and affordable program of professional training that allows them to address the complex challenges they will face in the field and effectively train others.
Experts identified several priorities for improving professional training for health workers:

Better access to professional training
Technological innovation
Leadership training
Standardized curricula for training healthcare professionals

“Public-private partnerships are important contributors. These partnerships bring the skills of varied stakeholders to the table, leading to better outcomes on the ground. Great PPPs must have clear and agreed-upon goals, transparency, trust, good governance structures, and planned investment.
– Joy Marini, Johnson & Johnson

SDG 3 Forum Report

Read the full report to find out more about the discussion hosts, GlobeScan and Johnson & Johnson, how infrastructure and institutions can stand in the way of progress, how large organizations can lend support, investments required to grow healthy worker capacity, empowering women through opportunities in healthcare, case studies, barriers and solutions to this complex issue.
download the report