SDG 3: GOOD HEALTH & WELL-BEING

Ensuring healthy lives & promoting well-being for all at all ages is the purpose of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3). In addition, this goal strives to increase access to healthcare worldwide.

Actions, stories, & resources related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-being are shared in our latest Auburn University and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals report. They are shared below to illustrate Auburn’s impact. For an overview highlighting our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), please visit aub.ie/sdg.

SDG 3: GOOD HEALTH & WELL-BEING

Goal 3 aims to improve health and wellbeing for people of all ages everywhere. Good health and wellbeing include decreasing maternal and child mortality rates, increasing vaccinations, continuing to address HIV/AIDS, and providing access to essential health services worldwide. Goal 3 is one of the goals Auburn University engages with most, offering at least 65 courses and conducting no less than 58 research projects from 2019 to 2021 relating to good health and well-being. Auburn University’s centers and institutes relating to sustainability are most represented by SDG 3 with 11 centers and institutes.

The United Nations emphasizes the importance of equitable access to healthcare for all people, regardless of income, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or otherwise. Much of the health-related research and outreach conducted by Auburn University is focused on health equity. Auburn University has strong programs in health-related disciplines that encourage students and faculty to engage with health issues across the Auburn community, the state, the country, and the world. Promoting good health and well-being for all people enables everyone to achieve beyond their physiological needs and actualize a high quality of life.

View our most recent Auburn University and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals report for an overview of Auburn’s contributions to all the SDGs.

Actions at Auburn

The field of public health covers a diverse workforce, including policy, health care, clean water, clean air, infectious disease, and the environment. Offered by the College of Veterinary Medicine, the minor is offered to students in all majors and disciplines. The curriculum provides students with a broad understanding of the diversity of the public health field, socio-economic factors that influence access to healthcare, and determinants of disease. Emphases include obesity, diabetes, drug addiction, and infant mortality, which require policies, program funding, and sustained commitment at the local, national, and global levels.

Students in Public Health Minor SDG 3
Image of a doctor and patient fist bumping with gloves on and medical masks in hand

The Auburn University Medical Clinic makes accessible the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and booster shots to all current students, faculty, and staff. Offering ample antigen and COVID-19 testing, the Medical Clinic also provides a sentinel testing program that includes incentives for completion. The clinic also offers contact tracing program for students to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Professionals from the Auburn University Medical Clinic work closely with Auburn University to create safe guidelines for the university’s faculty, staff, and students.

The Alabama Rural Health Association (ARHA) focuses on activism, research, and philanthropy to help combat the health issues suffered by those living in rural Alabama. The ARHA strives to spread awareness, raise funds, and support the Harrison College of Pharmacy in establishing a community health and education center located in the center of a community. The ARHA offers support to rural hospitals, clinics, health and education centers, and industry partners. The ARHA works to provide an accurate definition and depiction of rurality, so the group can spread awareness and advocate for policy supporting the health and well-being of those in rural areas.

Logo for Alabama Rural Health Association showing a farm
kids with student in TigerCHAT: Photo courtesy of Donna Woods

The purpose of TigerCHAT (Community Health Awareness and Training) is to impact child health through a 12-week, school-based health education curriculum focused on nutrition, respiratory health, and mental health. The program serves 3rd to 6th grade students in three rural schools. TigerCHAT produced significant increases in nutritional knowledge and decreases in sedentary time. Enhanced education for rural children strengthens their health and wellbeing, thus empowering them to pursue a better future for themselves and their communities. The program is conducted by researchers and students in the College of Nursing.

Dr. Felicia Tuggle is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University. As an engaged scholar, her research focuses on the role of social work education and practice in facilitating sustainable community development. Dr. Tuggle co-founded Global Development Solutions Lab with her colleagues Drs. Kelly Krawczyk and Peter Weber to integrate teaching, outreach, and research in the sub-disciplines of nonprofit studies, philanthropy, and social work and to apply and translate this teaching, outreach, and research into practice to empower citizens on the ground to be civic agents that can solve community problems and facilitate social development using participatory, empowering, equitable, rights-based, and sustainable approaches.

Image of two woman teaching to students
Boykin Community Clinic ribbon cutting: Image courtesy of Harrison School of Pharmacy

Located in Northwest Auburn, the clinic offers health care services for Auburn residents who are uninsured, underinsured, or prefer proximal access to health care. The clinic allows students from diverse health care disciplines to collaborate to provide a broad range of wellness and primary health services. Administered by the Harrison College of Pharmacy, the clinic serves as an education and training center, offering a site for Auburn University students from multiple disciplines to engage with each other and learn how to treat patients from a variety of backgrounds in a real-life setting. Dr. Richard Hansen, Dean of the Harrison College of Pharmacy, says, “This clinic is perfectly aligned with our land grant mission of serving the people of Alabama.”

People & Stories

LEED Buildings on Campus

| SDG11, SDG3, Updates | No Comments
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system used for green buildings and is overseen by the United States Green Building Council. LEED certification provides third-party verification that human health, environmental responsibility, and other performance goals of building projects have been achieved. LEED certified buildings make a…

Air & Climate: Auburn University’s Sustainability Report

| SDG11, SDG13, SDG3, SDG7, STARS, Updates | No Comments
By Randy Martin, Office of Sustainability The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its latest report assessing the current status and trends of climate change, future risks and the long- and near-term responses. This report contained a sentence that has stuck with me since I first read it: …

Walk @ lunch!

| Guest Posts, SDG3, Updates | No Comments
By Patrick Johnston “Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau  If you’re an Auburn employee who enjoys walking or spending time with your co-workers, then mark your calendars for April 26. That’s when Walk @ Lunch will occur across…

Director’s corner: Green Certified Buildings Are Good For You!

| Director's Corner, SDG11, SDG3, SDG9, Updates | No Comments
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”  Winston Churchill  The M. Miller Gorrie Center received LEED certification in 2008. Photo credit: Jen Morse. Modern humans in modern surroundings spend almost all of their time indoors.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), North Americans, on average, spend…

The Importance of Planting Native Vegetation

| Guest Posts, SDG15, SDG3, Updates | No Comments
by John Kush Anyone who has moved about Auburn in last few years has noticed the continued growth of our community. With this growth, we continue to lose valuable green space and tree canopy, which negatively impacts the ecological function of our local environment. Water filtration decreases with an increase…

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