The Nursing Role in SDG Attainment: History, Implications, and Organizational Advocacy

In September of 2015, all 193 Member States of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously voted on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This Agenda, comprised of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets focused on five major themes: People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity, and Partnership, and officially went into action on January 1, 2016 (UN, 2016). With a fundamental objective to ‘leave no one behind’, the SDGs reflect a holistic framework focused on safety, equity, peace, and inclusion with a staunch commitment to protecting ecosystems, biodiversity, and promoting planetary health. Planetary health acknowledges the earth’s deteriorating natural resources and the challenges of the planet to sustain the human population long-term as degradation of air, water, land, and biodiversity becomes increasingly threatened (Whitmee et al., 2017). Each nation worldwide is contributing their own innovation toward local efforts that contribute to the SDGs; the Agenda is not legally binding but is heavily reliant on multisectoral and transnational partnerships, particularly those between the Global North and Global South. The SDGs follow the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), building on the MDGs successes and addressing their gaps.

Nurses are key stakeholders in the advancement of the SDGs as leaders, partners, advocates, teachers, and healthcare professionals (Rosa, 2017a). As the largest cadre of the healthcare workforce, there are roughly 20.7-23 million nurses and midwives worldwide, integral to the realization of universal health coverage (UHC) and the SDGs (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). Nightingale, the founder of moder nursing, was the forerunner of the SDGs – a global health advocate invested in global equity, access to health services, social and environmental health determinants, policy advancement, and the peace and justice required for human thriving (Beck, Dossey, Rosa, 2018; Beck, Rosa, Dossey, in press).

There are myriad implications across practice, education, and research settings. Nurses must reframe themselves as global citizens, contextualizing global efforts toward SDG attainment and understanding the global impacts of their local actions. Nurses have always been invested in health equity and the social determinants of health, the planetary focus of the SDGs provides an expanded practice scope for nurses and an opportunity to invest in health initiatives related to climate change, the conservation of other species, and overall ecological well-being (Kurth, 2017; Lillienfeld, Nicholas, Breakey, & Corless; Nicholas & Breakey, 2017; Veenema et al., 2017). Nurses are being called to integrate the SDGs into current curricular standards and provide nurses with the literacies needed to tie their clinical and local efforts to the broader intentions of the 2030 Agenda (McKinnon & Fitzpatrick, 2017). Furthermore, nurses must learn to reframe health from a planetary perspective using the SDG framework, linking human health, well-being, and survival to the integrity of the planet and environmental sustainability (Rosa, 2017b; Rosa & Upvall, 2018). Research efforts need to focus on capacity building, expanding the research priorities of nursing to address each of the 17 SDGs, and leveraging opportunities for research impact (Squires, Abboud, Ojemeni, & Ridge, 2017).

There are endless opportunities to advance the SDGs through involvement with multiple professional and international organizations., such as Sigma (Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing, 2018; Wilson et al., 2016), the International Council of Nurses (ICN, 2017), and the Nursing Now campaign (All-Party Parliamentary Group, 2016) and the WHO (2016). While advancing the local and global efforts of nursing in accordance with the SDGs, ongoing paradigm shifts must continue to emerge, such as a focus on One Health, addressing global imbalances related to health access and poverty, and creating partnerships rooted in cultural humility, mutual benefit, and integrity (Lueddeke, 2016; Upvall & Leffers, 2018).

Data suggests that in many regards, the world is attaining the targets of the SDGs related to improved health and attention to the needs of the most vulnerable (UN, 2018). However, much work still needs to be accomplished. Nurses, as key health stakeholders, are pivotal in the advancement of the SDGs and the establishment of a safe, peaceful, just, and healthy world.