• WHO encourages multi-sector collaboration because isolated interventions fail to address health holistically.
• Healthcare, education, workplace, urban planning and global partnerships are encouraged to work together, creating synergistic effects that amplify the impact on population health.
• Healthcare focuses on early detection and treatment of diseases which prevents serious complications while also providing expertise for prevention programs.
• Health education informs students about risk factors and healthy choices, thereby reducing future health burdens.
• Workplace programs often provide exercise facilities and stress reduction that reduces sick leave, consequently improving productivity.
• Urban planning creates parks and bike lanes that encourage physical activity which leads to decreased obesity rates.
• Global partnerships accelerate the development of healthcare technology by enabling countries to share research findings and pool resources.
• As a result, this multi-sector approach addresses social determinants rather than merely treating symptoms after illness occurs, thus creating sustainable health improvements.
• This demonstrates why integrated strategies succeed where single-sector interventions fail, generating comprehensive wellbeing outcomes.

• Health influences and is influenced by many other SDGs beyond SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, creating complex interdependencies.
• Better healthcare access enhances workplace productivity and reduces poverty, demonstrating how health improvements support economic development goals.
• Progress in education, gender equality, and clean water directly affects health outcomes like life expectancy and mental health through improved living conditions.
• WHO emphasises that sustainable health improvements require coordinated action across multiple development sectors rather than isolated healthcare interventions.

\(A\)

\(B\)

Evaluation Statement

• WHO’s health lens approach is partially effective in achieving comprehensive health outcomes through SDGs.
• This evaluation is based on multi-sector integration success and implementation feasibility challenges.

Multi-sector Integration Success

• WHO’s health lens approach views health not just as a medical issue but as an outcome influenced by all sectors of society that requires coordinated action.
• The approach strongly meets the need for addressing health’s root causes through collaboration.
• Comprehensive health outcomes require healthcare (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), workplaces (SDG 8) and urban planning (SDG 11) working together. For example, coronary heart disease prevention shows superior outcomes when all sectors contribute simultaneously.
• Likewise, healthcare connects with SDG 6 (clean water) to reduce waterborne diseases and integrated approaches that address poverty reduction (SDG 1) produce significantly better health outcomes.

Implementation Feasibility

• Getting different sectors to work together only partly meets real-world needs.
• Health, education and other sectors work on different schedules when implementing SDGs.
• It’s hard to measure how non-health programs actually improve health. Results take years to show up, making partners lose patience.
• The highly integrated approach works well on paper but struggles particularly in resource poor countries.
• In fact, high costs prevent all countries from implementing all 17 SDGs effectively.

Final Evaluation

• Weighing these factors shows WHO’s health lens achieves moderate effectiveness.
• WHO’s approach shows strengths in comprehensive improvement which mitigates coordination difficulties.
• Although effective for well-resourced nations pursuing multiple SDGs, it is less suitable for developing nations.
• Implications suggest countries should adjust the approach to match their resources while still keeping different sectors working together on SDGs.