SDG 3 is Sustainable Development Goal 3, one of 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its full title is “Good Health and Well-Being,” and its mission is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all people at every age. The goal contains 13 specific targets covering everything from maternal mortality to air pollution, with most deadlines set for 2030.
How SDG 3 Is Structured
SDG 3 breaks down into nine numbered targets (3.1 through 3.9) and four “means of implementation” targets (3.a through 3.d). The numbered targets set specific health outcomes to achieve, like reducing deaths from certain diseases. The lettered targets focus on the systems needed to get there: tobacco regulation, vaccine development, health workforce training, and emergency preparedness.
Universal health coverage (Target 3.8) sits at the center of the framework. The WHO describes it as the overarching target that supports all the others, because none of the disease-specific goals can be met if people lack access to quality healthcare services, essential medicines, and financial protection from catastrophic medical costs.
Maternal and Child Health
Target 3.1 aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. That means fewer women dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, particularly in low-income countries where the vast majority of these deaths occur.
Target 3.2 focuses on ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under five. Countries are expected to bring neonatal mortality (deaths in the first 27 days of life) and under-five mortality down to levels where no child dies from a cause that modern medicine can prevent or treat. Progress is tracked per 1,000 live births, making it possible to compare countries at very different population sizes.
Communicable Diseases
Target 3.3 tackles the infectious diseases that still kill millions of people each year: HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, hepatitis, and waterborne illnesses. The ambition is to end the epidemics of AIDS, TB, and malaria by 2030.
For malaria specifically, the WHO’s global strategy calls for reducing both case rates and death rates by at least 90% by 2030, while eliminating the disease entirely in at least 35 countries. For TB, the goal extends beyond treatment to ensuring that no patient or household faces financial ruin because of the disease. HIV progress is measured by new infections per 1,000 uninfected people. A separate road map published in 2021 lays out how to address neglected tropical diseases, a category that includes conditions like river blindness, leprosy, and Chagas disease that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest communities.
Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health
Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory conditions now cause more deaths globally than infectious diseases. Target 3.4 calls for cutting premature mortality from these conditions by one third by 2030. “Premature” here means dying between the ages of 30 and 70, the years when these diseases most often strike people still in their working and caregiving prime.
This target also explicitly includes mental health. Suicide rates per 100,000 people serve as one of the two main indicators, marking the first time mental well-being was embedded this directly into a global development framework. The inclusion signals that mental health is not a secondary concern but a core component of population health.
Substance Abuse and Tobacco
Target 3.5 calls for strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, covering narcotic drugs and harmful alcohol use. It does not set a single numeric threshold but instead pushes countries to build better systems for addressing addiction as a public health issue rather than purely a criminal one.
Target 3.a is dedicated entirely to tobacco control, specifically the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The evidence behind this target is straightforward: tobacco taxes are the most cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among young people and low-income populations. Comprehensive bans on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship measurably reduce consumption. Large graphic health warnings on packaging encourage more people to quit. And perhaps most telling, studies show that most smokers want to quit once they actually understand the specific health risks, yet few people fully grasp those risks without clear public health messaging.
Road Safety and Environmental Health
Target 3.6 originally set a 2020 deadline to halve global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents, making it one of the earliest milestones in the entire SDG framework. Road crashes kill over a million people annually and are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29, which is why they earned a dedicated target within a health goal.
Target 3.9 addresses the health consequences of environmental pollution: deaths and illnesses caused by hazardous chemicals and contamination of air, water, and soil. Air pollution alone is responsible for millions of premature deaths each year, and the burden falls hardest on low- and middle-income countries where industrial regulation and clean energy access lag behind.
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Target 3.7 aims for universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services by 2030, including family planning, education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies. Access to contraception, safe pregnancy care, and information about reproductive health are treated not as extras but as essential services that every country should provide. Progress on this target directly feeds into the maternal mortality target as well, since unintended pregnancies and lack of prenatal care are major drivers of maternal death.
The Supporting Targets
Four additional targets focus on the infrastructure that makes the health outcomes possible. Target 3.b supports research and development of vaccines and medicines for diseases that primarily affect developing countries, where commercial incentives for pharmaceutical companies are often weak. Target 3.c calls for substantially increasing health financing and the recruitment, training, and retention of healthcare workers in developing nations, with special attention to least developed countries and small island states that struggle most with brain drain and funding gaps.
Target 3.d focuses on emergency preparedness: building every country’s capacity for early warning systems, risk reduction, and management of national and global health threats. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed just how far behind many countries were on this target, despite years of stated commitment.
How Progress Is Measured
Each target has one or more official indicators tracked by the WHO and national governments. Maternal mortality is measured as a ratio per 100,000 live births. Child mortality is tracked per 1,000 live births. Non-communicable disease mortality is calculated as the probability of dying between ages 30 and 70 from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory disease. Suicide is tracked as a crude rate per 100,000 people. HIV infections are counted per 1,000 uninfected individuals.
These indicators are designed to be comparable across countries and over time, allowing global scorecards to highlight where progress is on track and where it is stalling. Most of the data flows through WHO monitoring systems, though national statistics offices play a critical role in collecting the underlying numbers. The 2030 deadline is now close, and many targets, particularly on road safety and communicable diseases, are unlikely to be fully met on schedule. That doesn’t erase the progress made, but it does mean continued pressure on governments to close the remaining gaps.