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This article is one in a series in which contributing authors discuss how the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are linked to everyday clinical issues; national public health emergencies; and other nursing issues, such as leadership, shared governance, and advocacy. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a 15-year plan of action to achieve the goals, was unanimously adopted by all UN member states in September 2015 and took effect on January 1, 2016. The Agenda consists of 17 SDGs addressing social, economic, and environmental determinants of health and 169 associated targets focused on five themes: people, planet, peace, prosperity, and partnership. The SDGs build on the work of the UN Millennium Development Goals, which were in effect from 2000 to 2015. The current article discusses the International Council of Nurses Global Nursing Leadership Institute and its integration of the SDGs into a global leadership and policy development program., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Six billion people worldwide lack access to safe, timely, and affordable cardiac surgical and interventional care when needed. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity around the world, and include a significant surgical backlog of rheumatic and congenital heart diseases. Here, we review the political commitment by the WHO, the UN, and the World Bank to build and strengthen healthcare services for cardiovascular diseases, with a particular focus on cardiac surgical and interventional cardiology services around the world., Methods: A literature search was performed in the WHO, UN, and World Bank Governing Body databases to identify policy documents mentioning curative cardiovascular disease care. The Governing Body documentation, the Institutional Repository for Information Sharing database of the WHO, and the Official Document System of the UN were used. Documents only discussing prevention of cardiovascular diseases were excluded., Results: Fifty-nine unique documents were identified, including 56 from the WHO, 3 from the World Bank, and none from the UN; 12 (20.4%) documents mentioned cardiac surgery, and 6 (10.2%) contained some actionable language to incorporate cardiac surgical services, but none was explicitly dedicated to cardiac surgical services., Conclusion: Although growing, high-level political commitment for curative cardiovascular health services remains minimal. Increased awareness is needed to develop comprehensive cardiovascular care that is necessary to mitigate the increasing burden of premature morbidity and mortality from cardiac disease, and to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage.

This article is one in a series in which contributing authors discuss how the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are linked to everyday clinical issues; national public health emergencies; and other nursing issues, such as leadership, shared governance, and advocacy. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a 15-year plan of action to achieve the goals, was unanimously adopted by all UN member states in September 2015 and took effect on January 1, 2016. The Agenda consists of 17 SDGs addressing social, economic, and environmental determinants of health and 169 associated targets focused on five themes: people, planet, peace, prosperity, and partnership. The SDGs build on the work of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which were in effect from 2000 to 2015.

Background: Cooperation in public health and in oncology in particular, is currently a major issue for the island of Martinique, given its geopolitical position in the Caribbean region. The region of Martinique shares certain public health problems with other countries of the Caribbean, notably in terms of diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients with cancer. We present here a roadmap of cooperation priorities and activities in cancer surveillance and oncology in Martinique., Main Body: The fight against cancer is a key public health priority that features high on the regional health policy for Martinique. In the face of these specific epidemiological conditions, Martinique needs to engage in medical cooperation in the field of oncology within the Caribbean, to improve skills and knowledge in this field, and to promote the creation of bilateral relations that will help to improve cancer management in an international healthcare environment., Conclusions: These collaborative exchanges will continue throughout 2020 and will lead to the implementation of mutual research projects across a larger population basin, integrating e-health approaches and epidemiological e-cohorts.

Background: Although the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative has improved breastfeeding rates globally, weak monitoring still affects hospital-level implementation., Research Aim: To reassess compliance of a Baby-Friendly Hospital with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, HIV and Infant Feeding, and Mother-Friendly Care following the WHO/UNICEF global criteria., Methods: In this cross-sectional, prospective, mixed-methods study ( N = 180), clinical staff ( n = 60), pregnant women ( n = 40), postpartum mothers ( n = 60), and mothers of babies in intensive care ( n = 20) were randomly selected from one urban secondary-level public hospital in Ghana designated as Baby-Friendly in 2004 but never reassessed. Data were collected through interviews, document reviews, and observations using the revised WHO/UNICEF external reassessment tool and analyzed quantitatively using the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative computer tool. Scores higher than 80% signified a pass (high compliance). Scores rated as low (< 50%) and moderate (50-80%) signified noncompliance., Results: The facility passed the criteria for full compliance with the International Code (86%) but failed other components. Compliance with the Ten Steps was moderate (55%). Step 7 about rooming-in (84%) and Step 9 about human milk substitutes (100%) were passed, whereas Step 1 about written breastfeeding policies (0%), Step 2 about staff training (7%), and Step 4 about early breastfeeding initiation (31%) were met the least. Compliance with Mother-Friendly Care (34%) and HIV and Infant Feeding (47%) were low. Main implementation gaps were unavailability of policies and staff's inadequate knowledge about Baby-Friendly practices., Conclusions: Improving staff training and maternal counseling, routinely reassessing designated facilities, and providing technical support in problematic areas might sustain implementation.

School-based vaccination (SBV) and checking students' vaccination records at school have the potential to optimize vaccination coverage among school-aged children. The primary aim of this paper is to describe adoption of SBV by countries from 2008 to 2017, including target age groups and vaccines delivered in 2017, as reported annually through the World Health Organization (WHO)-United Nations Children's fund (UNICEF) Joint Reporting Form (JRF). Expanding upon previous analyses, country-specific rates of primary school enrollment and home-based record (HBR) ownership were linked to the WHO-UNICEF JRF data, to identify countries with high potential to implement vaccination record checks at school. The proportion of countries reporting delivery of at least one routinely recommended vaccine dose in school settings increased from 95 (of 163 reporting; 58%) in 2008 to 108 (of 181 reporting; 60%) in 2017. The 13 additional countries that reported using SBV in 2017 were among 31 countries for which SBV data from the JRF were unavailable in 2017. The most common antigens delivered through SBV in 2017 were tetanus (94 countries), diphtheria (89 countries), and human papillomavirus (52 countries). Among 93 countries with data available for net primary school enrollment and HBR ownership, 52 (56%) countries had both ≥80% net primary school enrollment and ≥80% of children aged 12-23 months ever owning an HBR; 33 (63%) of these used SBV. If not already doing so, these 33 countries represent an opportunity to introduce routine checking of vaccination status at entry to, or during primary school. With the growing number of new vaccines and booster doses of childhood vaccines targeting school-age children, implementation of SBV and checking of student vaccination records at school may help improve vaccination coverage; however, additional data are needed to assess global prevalence of checking vaccination status at school and to identify factors facilitating optimal implementation of this strategy., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Sixteen million nurses, the largest global health care workforce, contribute to achievement of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through strategic and disruptive research, education, practice, and policy. Responsible for advancing the well-being of individuals, families, communities, and society, nurses are positioned to influence and impact health across the life span. They do this from promoting prenatal health and early childhood success to encouraging healthy aging and end-of-life transitions. They utilize both predictive analytics that prevent rehospitalization and evidence-based practices, such as rocking and kangaroo care, that encourage survival and thriving of preterm newborns. Nurses have a scope of practice that necessitates their presence essentially everywhere. Direct nursing care is delivered in homes, schools, correctional settings, districts, hospitals, helicopters, combat zones, refugee camps, and postnatural disaster or homeless shelters. Nurses advancing system-level health are positioned in health care administration, higher education, international nongovernmental organizations, and governmental offices. Nurse educators and researchers shape tomorrow's practitioners and practice. In general, nurses innovate and generate solutions to improve global health. Shared in this article are strategies for nurses to employ to disrupt the status quo and aggressively contribute to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

For more than 75 years, the United Nations Charter has functioned without the benefit of Chapter VII, Article 43, which commits all United Nations member states "to make available to the Security Council, on its call, armed forces, assistance, facilities, including rights of passage necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security." The consequences imposed by this 1945 decision have had a dramatic negative impact on the United Nation's functional capacity as a global body for peace and security. This article summarizes the struggle to implement Article 43 over the decades from the onset of the Cold War, through diplomatic attempts during the post-Cold War era, to current and often controversial attempts to provide some semblance of conflict containment through peace enforcement missions. The rapid growth of globalization and the capability of many nations to provide democratic protections to their populations are again threatened by superpower hegemony and the development of novel unconventional global threats. The survival of the United Nations requires many long overdue organizational structure and governance power reforms, including implementation of a robust United Nations Standing Task Force under Article 43. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;13:655-662).

Using data from the UN World Population Prospects, we document global trends in lifespan inequality from 1950 until 2015. Our findings indicate that (i) there has been a sustained decline in overall lifespan inequality, (ii) adult lifespan variability has also declined, but some plateaus and trend reversals have been identified, (iii) lifespan inequality among the elderly has increased virtually everywhere, and (iv) most of the world variability in age-at-death can be attributed to within-country variability. Such changes have occurred against a backdrop of generalized longevity increases. Our analyses suggest that the world is facing a new challenge: the emergence of diverging trends in longevity and age-at-death inequality among the elderly around the globe-particularly in high-income areas. As larger fractions of the world population survive to more advanced ages, it will be necessary for national and international health planners to recognize the growing heterogeneity that characterizes older populations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

High-level political support for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) drew international attention to included causes at the turn of the century. Influences of this normative framework on national-level health agenda setting remain little investigated. This study investigates the agenda status of maternal survival against the backdrop of the MDGs in two countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Informed by replicative case studies conducted in Ghana and Tanzania, the study finds the MDGs played a significant role in the issue's increasing status in both countries by helping to align several factors that facilitate the agenda setting process, including: ideas concerning the severity of the problem and expectations for its redress; institutions that shape policies, programs and monitoring; and economic and political interests. The agenda setting process was similar in the countries but for two dynamics. HIV/AIDS dominated Tanzania's health policy agenda in the early 2000s, crowding out attention to maternal and other health issues. A network of concerned actors that expanded to form a broad political coalition later facilitated agenda setting in Tanzania, including securing some budgetary commitments. By contrast, Ghana's core maternal health network remained technically oriented and closed to broader political and civil society engagement, limiting its capacity to expand issue attention and budgetary commitments beyond the health sector., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: None

Background: In 2000, the United Nations (UN) introduced the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), described as a global movement with the primary aim of ending world-wide poverty ("Millennium Summit," 2000). The second phase of the project, known as the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda offers an increased emphasis on lessening the mitigating factors associated with climate change and adapting to the negative effects of climate change. Nurses are in the unique position to address the health-related impacts related to climate change through community health approaches aimed at education and promotion of environmental stewardship., Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the relationships among the health consequences of climate change, nursing literature on climate change, and nursing implications. The following will be addressed: "What is nursing's role in policy, practice, and advocacy when addressing the effects of climate change? What is the importance of the SDGs as a framework for addressing climate change in the role of nursing?", Method: This scoping review of the literature was conducted which included the evaluation of a broad range of articles using scoping methods as frameworks., Findings: An overarching theme regarding the nursing community's responsibility in addressing the effects of climate change and their role as advocates, educators, and global citizens was extracted from the scoping review., Discussion: There are many opportunities for nurses to become actively involved in efforts aimed at mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts in climate change, including becoming involved in policy, advocacy, research, and practice opportunities., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Increased awareness of the importance of mental health for global health has led to a number of new initiatives, including influential policy instruments issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN)., Method: This policy brief describes two WHO instruments, the Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020 (World Health Organization, 2013) and the Mental Health Atlas (World Health Organization, 2015), and presents a comparative analysis with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015)., Results: The WHO's Action Plan calls for several specific objectives and targets, with a focus on improving global mental health governance and service coverage. In contrast, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals include only one goal specific to mental health, with a single indicator tracking suicide mortality rates., Discussion: The discrepancy between the WHO and UN frameworks suggests a need for increased policy coherence. Improved global health governance can provide the basis for ensuring and accelerating progress in global mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative is an assessment process designed to facilitate an ongoing national appraisal of progress toward the goals of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. More than 80 countries have completed this national assessment, including the United States of America. This article describes the process undertaken by the US World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative team, the findings of the expert panel related to infant and young child feeding policies, programs, and practices and the ranking of the United States compared with the 83 other participating nations. Identified strengths of the United States include data collection and monitoring, especially by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, and the United States Breastfeeding Committee. The absence of a national infant feeding policy, insufficient maternity protection, and lack of preparation for infant and young children feeding in emergencies are key targets identified by the assessment requiring concerted national effort.

In this paper, meant to stimulate debate, we argue that there is considerable benefit in approaching together the implementation of two seemingly separate recent developments. First, on the global development agenda, we have the United Nations General Assembly's 2015 finalized list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several of the SDGs are related to health. Second, the field of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) has garnered enough compelling evidence demonstrating that early exposures in life affect not only future health, but that the effects of that exposure can be transmitted across generations - necessitating that we begin to focus on prevention. We argue that implementing the SDGs and DOHaD together will be beneficial in several ways; and will require attending to multiple, complex and multidisciplinary approaches as we reach the point of translating science to policy to impact. Here, we begin by providing the context for our work and making the case for a mutually reinforcing, synergistic approach to implementing SDGs and DOHaD, particularly in Africa. To do this, we initiate discussion via an early mapping of some of the overlapping considerations between SDGs and DOHaD.

Over the past three decades, the United Nations (UN) has slowly devoted increasing attention to global ageing. Concern for individually based welfare or health-care programs for older people in developed countries has progressed to also consider the contributions of older people and implications of ageing for socioeconomic advancement in developing countries, including those in Asia Oceania. These shifts are evident in the International Plans of Action on Ageing from Vienna in 1982 to Madrid in 2002; recent 10-year reviews of the Madrid Plan; and current advocacy for inclusion of ageing in the influential UN Millennium Plan post-2015. Australia has demonstrated progressive policies and contributed to ageing developments by the UN, International Federation on Ageing the World Health Organization and the International Association of Gerontology. Key ideas driving further action are the importance of valuing people at all ages, addressing inequalities over the life-course and implementing human rights approaches to ageing., (© 2013 ACOTA.)

Background: Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) collects mortality data coded using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) code., Methods: We analysed IHD deaths world-wide between 1995 and 2009 and used the UN population database to calculate age-specific and directly and indirectly age-standardised IHD mortality rates by country and region., Results: IHD is the single largest cause of death worldwide, causing 7,249,000 deaths in 2008, 12.7% of total global mortality. There is more than 20-fold variation in IHD mortality rates between countries. Highest IHD mortality rates are in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries; lowest rates in high income countries. For the working-age population, IHD mortality rates are markedly higher in low-and-middle income countries than in high income countries. Over the last 25 years, age-standardised IHD mortality has fallen by more than half in high income countries, but the trend is flat or increasing in some low-and-middle income countries. Low-and-middle income countries now account for more than 80% of global IHD deaths., Conclusions: The global burden of IHD deaths has shifted to low-and-middle income countries as lifestyles approach those of high income countries. In high income countries, population ageing maintains IHD as the leading cause of death. Nevertheless, the progressive decline in age-standardised IHD mortality in high income countries shows that increasing IHD mortality is not inevitable. The 20-fold mortality difference between countries, and the temporal trends, may hold vital clues for handling IHD epidemic which is migratory, and still burgeoning., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

On May 13, 2010, a resolution passed at the United Nations for a high-level meeting with heads of state on noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs), catapulting NCDs atop the political and health agendas. This meeting on NCDs, slated for September 2011, provides the rare political moment to commit to scaling up international, regional, and national efforts to prevent and treat NCDs, giving the issue the priority it deserves. An analogous high-profile meeting transpired in 2001 on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), effectively serving as the nucleating event for a vigorous global and political movement towards universal prevention and treatment. As was the case at the HIV/AIDS meeting, a key priority area in the new NCD movement remains ensuring universal access to reliable, affordable essential medicines to prevent and treat NCDs. The upcoming meeting, therefore, provides the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the increased political and social awareness of NCDs and to apply the lessons learned from the HIV/antiretroviral experience in order to improve access to essential medicines for NCDs. Social mobilization and political advocacy, used in tandem with technical solutions, is an important lesson from the HIV experience, and will likely be important to ensure access to essential medicines for NCDs, including cardiovascular disease. Here, we use cardiovascular disease as a specific case study to examine the issue, outlining early solutions while drawing parallels and analogies to the HIV experience., (Copyright © 2011 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To present the need and plan for development of a General Comment for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 19 which has the potential to transform and advance child protection through the infusion of a child rights approach., Methods: The Committee on the Rights of the Child (Committee) authorized ISPCAN and IICRD to draft a General Comment for CRC Article 19 (GC19) and to introduce implementation supports. An international working group (GC19WG), Expert Advisory Panel (EAP), and GC19 Focal Group of Committee members (GC19 CRC FG) have been organized to help guide and carry out the program of development. Analyses of relevant histories and knowledge, including effective and promising child protection strategies, are being applied to guide formulation of the GC and high priority implementation components. Consultations on the draft and supportive products will be conducted in cooperation with UNICEF, WHO, the NGO Group for the CRC, and other NGOs. Advice is to be solicited from interested parties and organizations in person and through distance communication throughout the world., Results: In addition to the GC19, numerous implementation supports will be planned and some will be produced and piloted during the program of development. Under consideration are an implementation guide and resources; commentary; accountability models, indicators, measures and evaluation systems; a clearing house and resource website; a child-appropriate version of GC19; and education/training curricula and programs., Practice Implications: GC19 has the potential to transform child protection by fostering a paradigm shift in its conceptualization, theory, research, and practice. Article 19 encourages an interpretation and application beyond narrow child protection conceptualizations and practices which have been found seriously inadequate. The General Comment can advance effective prevention of maltreatment and protection of personal security by promoting the child's rights, well-being, health, and development in all aspects of child protection. GC19 will provide support to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its monitoring and guiding functions, and to States Parties, professionals, and civil society agents concerned with the protection and well-being of children.

This article consists of a brief overview of the involvement by the United Nations (UN) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in worldwide efforts to expose and prevent violence against women. It begins with a depiction of the types of gender-based violence in contemporary society. Then follows a short history of the institutions and mechanisms created by the UN and civil society to prevent domestic and public violence against women. It concludes with a sketch of ongoing UN/NGO efforts to build on the momentum of the last decade, and suggests the challenges this presents to each and all of us in the new millennium.

There have been enormous changes in the world order over the last 15 years, which have seen the United States, closely supported by the United Kingdom, become more unilateral in its actions, and in doing so damaging the United Nations. Attempts to create an ethical dimension in foreign policy have failed. The brief consensus after 9/11 has been lost in the war against terror, whilst other more appropriate measures to diminish the risks of terrorism, such as creating greater equity in trade and meeting the UN millennium goals, have been left to one side. Iraq and the ongoing failure to resolve the Palestinian issues have left the world a less safe place. The need for the UN to establish itself as a dominant force for global justice is paramount. To do so there must be reform, particularly of the Security Council.