13.B. Round table: Beyond Health in All Policies: How the health sector contributes to the attainment of non-health SDGs
Authors:   Organised by: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies,   Chair persons: Matthias Wismar - European Observatory, Scott Greer - USA
Published: October 2020

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), adopted by the entire UN System, the European Commission and many countries provide an unprecedented platform for intersectoral action on the social and commercial determinants of health. The 17 sectoral goals come with numerous specific targets that lend themselves to propose suitable action for goal achievement.

Working with other sectors, however, has often proven cumbersome, marred by indifference, skepticism, missing political mandates or sheer resistance. All too often, health sector battle cries for healthy public policies or Health in All Policies have been badly received, treated as impositions or as irrelevant to the policy goals of other sectors.

An alternative strategy, as proposed in this workshop, is to focus on the so-called co-benefits. Co-benefits are substantial specific benefits to the other sectors that can be gained by investing in health-related actions. In other words, 'don't ask what other sectors can do for health, ask what health can do for other sectors and their achievement of policy goals '.

For many of the SDGs complex chains of causality for the co-benefits are well established. For example, health literacy interventions have, via a complex causal chain, proven positive effects on educational attainment, academic performance and labour market participation. Adopting health literacy interventions in educational settings would therefore produce substantial and specific benefits contributing to the achievement of 'SDG4 quality education'.

To give policymakers the analysis that they require for intersectoral decision making we would need to estimate the magnitude of these effects. Co-benefits that produce only negligible effects can be left aside. We would also need to understand the return on investment. Small or negative return on investment would not be desirable.

Making the case for co-benefits, however is not enough. We would also need to focus on the governance structures for intersectoral dialogue and decision making. They need to facilitate greater degrees of collaboration and cooperation while at the same time fostering accountability. This includes: cabinet committees; parliamentary committees; inter-departmental units and committees; mergers and mega-ministries; joint budgeting; delegated financing; involvement of civil society, stakeholders and industry.

Governance instruments for intersectoral implementation can include, just to name a few from a potentially very long list, e.g. Standards of good practice, conflict of interest policies, competitive bidding, contracts.

This workshop is based on the preliminary results from a comprehensive study.

The panelists will address five key issues Co-benefits and SDGs: scope for joint action (Schmitt)Co-benefits and SDG5 Gender Equality (Falkenbach)Co-benefits and SDG13 Climate Action (Valentine)Co-benefits and SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (Mehdipanah)Co-benefits and SDG17 Partnerships: Aid and trade (Jarman)

Key messages

The health sector can and should be a vital contributor to achieving all the SDGs. Focusing on co-benefits and shared goals allows us to overcome the limitations of Health in All Policies.

Panelists:

Tugce Schmitt

EUPHA, Utrecht, Netherlands

Contact: info@schmitt-t.com

Michelle Falkenbach

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Contact: michfalk@umich.edu

Nicole Valentine

WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

Contact: valentinen@who.int

Roshanak Mehdipanah

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Contact: rmehdipa@umich.edu

Holly Jarman

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Contact: hjarman@umich.edu