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Strategies to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals for Health and the Environment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Development Goals towards Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (23 November 2024) | Viewed by 3211

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Community Medicine, Research Center in Preventive Medicine, Health Promotion and Sustainable Development, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: health promotion; environmental health; formal and informal education for health and well-being; community medicine; community engagement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) underlines that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development “requires the active mobilization of political leadership and ambition for science-based transformations”.

Sustainable living means understanding how our lifestyle choices impact the world around us and finding ways for everyone to live better and lighter. This Special Issue focuses on health- and environment-related development goals (SDGs) such as ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture (SDG 2); ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, including research on formal and informal education for sustainable lifestyles (SDG 3); ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (SDG 6); making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns; and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

This collection aims to publish reviews and original articles mapping the situation; presenting tools, activities and programs; and sharing reflections, experiences and best practices from different countries and communities concerning how individuals and different stakeholders can contribute to achieving SDGs.

Dr. Lucia Maria Lotrean
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable development goals
  • health and its determinants
  • health promotion
  • environmental health
  • health and environmental policy and their synergies
  • inter-sectorial collaborations

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 269 KiB  
Article
Education for Improving Awareness and Practices Regarding Hand Hygiene Among Romanian School Children
by Anda-Valentina Trandafir and Lucia Maria Lotrean
Sustainability 2025, 17(1), 304; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17010304 - 3 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1945
Abstract
Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This study aimed to describe the implementation, effect and process evaluation of an educational session focused on promoting hand hygiene among school children within a [...] Read more.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This study aimed to describe the implementation, effect and process evaluation of an educational session focused on promoting hand hygiene among school children within a school-based health education program. Seven schools from Romania participated in a longitudinal study. Children were categorized in two groups: Intervention (participating in a session in which they learnt about the importance of hand hygiene and the technique of handwashing, as part of a comprehensive educational program) and Control (standard education). Data were gathered through confidential questionnaires at baseline (October–November 2019, 880 participants) and follow-up (December 2020–February 2021, 484 participants); 350 children participated in both assessments. Many children consistently practiced handwashing in several situations at both evaluations. At follow-up, both groups had improved several hand hygiene practices; students from the Intervention group showed a higher handwashing frequency after using the toilet and before meals in comparison with the Control group. The majority of students from the intervention group agreed the program helped improving their handwashing behavior; girls and children with parents of lower educational levels tended to have a more favorable opinion. Consistent efforts and reinforcement are necessary for the maintenance of correct hand-washing practices. Full article

Review

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21 pages, 699 KiB  
Review
Does Air Pollution Aggravate Health Problems in Low-Income Countries? Verification from Countries Along the Belt and Road
by Xiaocang Xu, Yanglin Zhong, Shuangshuang Cai, Lei Lei and Jian Peng
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 1796; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17051796 - 20 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 665
Abstract
Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. However, most of the countries along the Belt and Road are low-income countries in the initial stages of industrialization, which are also facing serious air pollution and [...] Read more.
Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. However, most of the countries along the Belt and Road are low-income countries in the initial stages of industrialization, which are also facing serious air pollution and health problems while promoting economic growth. This is also a fact that both China and its partner countries along the Belt and Road need to take into account when it comes to economic cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road. This review selected 91 papers from academic databases such as CNKI, Web of Science and Sci-hub from 2013 to 2024 to analyze the impact of air pollution on health in countries along the Belt and Road and compared it with countries not along the Belt and Road. The paper makes the following findings: First, air pollution is very harmful to general health and has produced specific diseases related to lung function and children’s respiratory health in countries along the Belt and Road, similar to countries not along the Belt and Road. Second, mortality, mental health, and related health expenditures result from higher air pollution in Belt and Road countries more so than in non-Belt and Road countries. Therefore, when China conducts economic cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, it should take the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) as the direction and fully consider local environmental pollution, social and economic issues, and health issues to ensure the long-term sustainable economic growth of the Belt and Road in the future. Full article
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