IChemE Past President Ian Shott introduces SDG 3: Health and wellbeing.

 

Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages

Health and wellbeing are imperatives for us all. UN SDG 3 recognises the importance of identifying and facing challenges to achieving sustainable health through focussing on emerging new challenges to global health.

The SDG index determines how far a country has progressed in achieving sustainable health for individuals in their countries. Measures relate to reproductive, maternal and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, mental health and environmental risks, health systems and funding.

The recent SDG 3 activity has included a focus on anti-microbial resistance (AMR), a signpost to another sustainability resource from the Institute of Food Science and Technology and a good example of symbiosis for health and wellbeing.

The role of chemical engineers

As chemical engineers working in the pharmaceutical, consumer healthcare, food and water industries, we can make a difference by working throughout the product lifecycle to:

• research new diseases and support access to drugs in developing countries
• develop robust processes to process nutritious food, clean water and efficacious medicines which enter the global supply chain
• engineer products and processes to meet regulatory requirements to ensure patient safety while delivering efficacious drug products for targeted diseases.

We can apply our scientific knowledge, our systems thinking and our delivery focus to globally manage research and development and new product launch projects.