Building on the Millennium Development Goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals are the cornerstone of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, billed by the UN as “An Agenda of unprecedented scope and significance.” The seventeen ambitious goals, which are intended to be reached by 2030, are conceived as integrated, indivisible, and as balancing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. They are organized around five core pillars:
• people: ending poverty and hunger and ensuring that all human beings can lead fulfilling lives in a healthy and dignified environment
• planet: protecting the environment while ensuring sustainable use and management of natural resources
• prosperity: ensuring environmentally sustainable economic growth, mutual prosperity, and decent work for all
• peace: building societies that are peaceful, just, and inclusive, and in which human rights and gender equality are respected
• partnership: strengthening global solidarity to address inequalities within and between countries, by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable.
This Research Topic addresses the tenth Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “Reduce inequalities within and among countries.” Progress toward this goal is measured by a number of
individual targets and indicators.
As highlighted in the UN’s
most recent SDG progress report, equality in relation to income, wealth, opportunity, or other dimensions is still far from being achieved. The pandemic is exacerbating existing inequalities within and among countries and territories and hitting the most vulnerable people and the poorest countries and territories hardest. Overall, Covid-19 is likely to delay the progress of the poorest countries and territories on the Goals by a full 10 years. For example, globally, the number of refugees reached its highest level on record in 2020. Even with strict COVID-19-related restrictions on mobility around the world, thousands of migrants died on their migratory journey.
This Research Topic will address the tenth sustainable development goal from a health communication-specific perspective. Specifically, this Research Topic will focus on:
• social determinants of health: income inequalities and health; communication inequalities and health disparities; applications of communication infrastructure theory
• immigrant and refugee health: media representations; how immigrant and refugee health inequalities issues have been represented to the public; journal and television narratives; state-bred campaigns; national and international press cultures
• migrant health: mental health (and other aspects of health according to WHO) inequalities of migrant workers as tied to SDG 10
• low SES population: physical and mental health inaccess and inequalities of very low-income populations as barriers to the “people” and “prosperity” pillars of SDG 10; e.g., local domestic workers, construction workers, day laborers, and so on
• LGBTQ+ communities: in countries where LGBTQ+ communities are perhaps looked down upon, what challenges do they feel need to be addressed for equality and equity?