Washington, D.C. October 2, 2021 (PAHO) – A new portal has been launched by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to improve access to data and analysis on health inequalities in the Americas. “Evidence and Intelligence for Action on the SDG-3 Targets” aims to facilitate efforts to monitor the indicators for the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
The portal is part of a PAHO initiative to track SDG-3 indicators and inequalities, which have been further exacerbated during the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The portal aims to increase accountability in the region when it comes to monitoring progress towards SDG-3 and will serve as a one stop shop for data collection, analysis and evidence to enable governments, health systems and other organizations to take informed action towards achieving the targets.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, progress towards meeting the targets of SDG-3, although positive in certain areas, was unequal,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Assistant Director. “We need to use the information provided by this portal to review strategies in each country and see how they can be adapted or developed, to reach those that are currently not being reached by health services and initiatives.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, consist of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are an urgent call for action by all countries in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Evidence and Intelligence for Action
The new portal hosts a variety of functionalities and specialized content, including:
Regional dashboard: This enables users to visualize inequalities in the Americas and progress towards targets, as well as inequalities in the Americas at both the national and subnational level.
Country profile dashboard: This provides country level data, based on household surveys.
Executive Summary Dashboard: This describes social trends and inequalities, as well as existing evidence for each SDG 3 indicator.
Special issue: This includes a selection of focused articles from the Pan American Journal of Public Health, PAHO's scientific journal.
Methodology: This provides advice and guidance for SDG 3 monitoring indicators and a methodology for setting national targets to reduce geographic inequalities.
Our aim at PAHO and with the SDGs more broadly is to leave no one behind,” said Dr. Sebastián García Saiso, Director of PAHO’s evidence and action intelligence for health department. ”We provide concrete data to increase member states’ capacity to take action towards social inclusion and the well-being of the population of the Americas."
