Page 64 - University of Pretoria Research Review 2017

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The interconnectedness of health, well-being and the SDGs
Tiaan de Jager, Faculty of Health Sciences
Health, well-being and sustainable development are considered to be intrinsically connected, with health regarded as a precondition indicator as well as an outcome of successful sustainable development.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It recognises that opportunities to improve health not only lie in specific health interventions (primarily SDG 3), but also through social justice (SDGs 4, 5, 10, 16, 17), environmental protection (SDGs 2, 6, 7, 11–15), and shared prosperity (SDGs 1, 8, 9). Measures of health and well-being can therefore be used to assess progress in the implementation of a number of SDGs.
This theme on Health and Well-being combines research from within the University of Pretoria, mainly driven by and coordinated from the Faculty of Health Sciences, that focus on the improvement of health and well-being by addressing the interplay between the different sustainable development goals.
Opening the theme is a grouping of texts around reducing the mortality rates in children under the age of five, specifically related to HIV transmission between mothers and their infants, concluding with a discussion on public health and how policy needs to translate to the health programmes implemented around child care. A second set of research looks into affordable and
accessible diagnostic tools and methods to assist with the early detection of preventable diseases. Internationally, the UN SDGs, and the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy, have recognised the severity of the problem, and have one common objective: to end the global TB epidemic. In addition to TB, sub-Saharan Africa is plagued by the diseases of HIV/AIDS and malaria, thus calling for integrated and novel research approaches to design pioneering public health interventions and strategies to address these diseases.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for more than 65% of all deaths worldwide, and are of pandemic proportions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa. Studies within the Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Research Institute (SEMLI) at UP focus on how sport and exercise can alleviate this burden of NCDs. The focus on cancer presents a case for fighting cancer with nuclear therapy that targets cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. The next grouping of research illustrates the relevance
of precision medicine that uses the distinct characteristics of patient populations to provide customised health care solutions. Concluding the theme, and providing a link to the next theme, is the focus on One Health at the human-animal-ecosystem interface that includes disease ecology and emergence.
Professor Tiaan de Jager is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control.