Pathways to Sustainable Good Health and Well-Being: Integrating Environmental, Social and Economic Resilience for SDG 3

Dear Colleagues,

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) requires integrated sustainability pathways that address environmental, social, and economic resilience simultaneously. Recent global challenges, including climate change, emerging health risks, and persistent health inequities, have highlighted the limitations of sector-specific approaches and the growing need for system-level and evidence-informed perspectives (Golden et al., 2025; Hjelmskog et al., 2025).

An expanding body of literature emphasizes that health outcomes and health system performance are deeply embedded in broader sustainability contexts, shaped by environmental exposures, socioeconomic conditions, and governance structures (Nunes et al., 2016; Becerra-Posada, 2015). Resilient health systems, in particular, depend on institutional capacity, policy coherence, and cross-sector collaboration, as demonstrated by lessons from public health emergencies and global crises (Kruk et al., 2015; Kieny et al., 2017; Saulnier et al., 2023).

This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality research that advances integrative, data-informed, and policy-relevant insights into sustainable pathways to health and well-being. We particularly welcome studies that move beyond descriptive analyses to examine mechanisms, models, indicators, and governance frameworks that support resilient and equitable progress toward SDG 3.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Integrative and Systemic-Level Perspectives

• An integrative framework linking environmental, social, and economic resilience with health outcomes;
• Data-based modeling and systemic analysis exploring pathways to sustainable health and well-being;
• Multi-level and longitudinal studies on health, sustainability, and resilience;
• Comparative and cross-national analyses of health-related sustainability outcomes.

B. Environmental Change, Risk, and Adaptation

• The impact of climate change on public health and resilience strategies;
• The link between environmental exposure, ecosystem health, and human well-being;
• Health risk assessment, disaster preparedness, and human adaptation to environmental and social stresses;
• The link between urbanization, the built environment, and sustainable health.

C. Health Systems, Governance, and Policy

• Health systems, crisis response, and sustainability policy;
• Integration and development of sustainable health governance and institutional capacity;
• Public–private partnerships and multi-stakeholder governance in promoting the implementation of SDG 3.

D. Data, Indicators, and Decision Support

• Indicators, metrics, and composite indices for measuring the sustainability of SDG 3;
• Frameworks for Monitoring, Evaluating, and Reporting Sustainable Health Outcomes;
• Data integration, interoperability, and decision support systems are needed for sustainable health policies.

E. Digital Innovation, Ethics, and Equity

• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics for evaluating or predicting sustainable health decisions;
• Digital transformation and innovation to promote sustainable healthcare systems;
• Ethical, transparent, and responsible use of digital technologies in sustainable health;
• Equity, accessibility, and inclusion approaches to health to drive sustainable health and well-being;
• Drivers of social capital, community resilience, and sustainable health practices.

F. Methods and Analytical Approaches for Sustainable Health

• Methods and analytical approaches for sustainable health;
• System dynamics modeling and systems-based simulation for health sustainability;
• AI-assisted prediction, risk modeling, and scenario analysis for SDG 3;
• Mixed-methods and longitudinal designs for resilience and health systems research;
• Comparative policy analysis using quantitative and qualitative evidence.

Reference

Golden, C. D., Childs, M. L., Mudele, O. E., Andriamizarasoa, F. A., Bouley, T. A., De Nicola, G., ... Dominici, F. (2025). Climate-smart public health for global health resilience. The Lancet Planetary Health, 9(8), 101293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.101293

Hjelmskog, A., Boyd, J., Stevenson, A., Pollack, R., Elsenbroich, C., Heppenstall, A., Toney, J., Winterbottom, J., & Meier, P. (2025). The effect of climate mitigation and adaptation policies on health and health inequalities: A systematic review. The Lancet Planetary Health, 9(7), 101277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanplh.2025.06.001

Kieny, M. P., Bekedam, H., Dovlo, D., Fitzgerald, J., Habicht, J., Harrison, G., Kluge, H., Lin, V., Menabde, N., Mirza, Z., Siddiqi, S., & Travis, P. (2017). Strengthening health systems for universal health coverage and sustainable development. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 95(7), 537–539. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.187476

Kruk, M. E., Myers, M., Varpilah, S. T., & Dahn, B. T. (2015). What is a resilient health system? Lessons from Ebola. The Lancet, 385(9980), 1910–1912. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60755-3

Luyten, A., Winkler, M. S., Ammann, P., & Dietler, D. (2023). Health impact studies of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures – A scoping review. The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 9, 100186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2022.100186

Mauti, J., Gautier, L., Agbozo, F., Shiroya, V., Jessani, N. S., Tosun, J., & Jahn, A. (2020). Addressing policy coherence between health in all policies approach and the sustainable Development Goals implementation: Insights from Kenya. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 11(6), 757–767. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2020.212

Nunes, A. R., Lee, K., & O’Riordan, T. (2016). The importance of an integrating framework for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: The example of health and well-being. BMJ Global Health, 1(3), e000068. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000068

Nuzzo, J. B., Meyer, D., Snyder, M., Ravi, S. J., Lapascu, A., Souleles, J., & Bishai, D. (2019). What makes health systems resilient against infectious disease outbreaks and natural hazards? Results from a scoping review. BMC Public Health, 19, 1310. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7707-z

Becerra-Posada, F. (2015). Health in all policies: A strategy to support the Sustainable Development Goals. The Lancet Global Health, 3(7), e360. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00040-6

Saulnier, D. D., Duchenko, A., Ottilie-Kovelman, S., Tediosi, F., & Blanchet, K. (2023). Re-evaluating our knowledge of health system resilience during COVID-19: Lessons from the first two years of the pandemic. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 12, 6659. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2022.6659

Prof. Dr. De-Chih Lee
Dr. I-Hsiung Chang
Dr. Feng-Hua Yang
Guest Editors

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• sustainable development goal 3
• health and well-being
• sustainability
• environmental resilience
• social resilience
• economic resilience
• health systems
• policy and governance