Abstrait

Sdgs and the Dawning of a New Globally Empowered Era of Women's Health and Wellbeing

Adenike Bitto

September 25, 2015 marked a global watershed, as world leaders from 193 countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will apply valuable lessons learned from recently completed strategies of the fifteen-year Millennium Development Goals. This paper focuses on women's health and wellbeing, covered in all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but emphasized in the fifth - "Gender equality and women's empowerment." After careful and thoughtful consideration of how the new goal may be implemented, this paper develops an interesting model depicting women and girls as central protagonists in effecting positive health and life-affirming changes in their own lives. The model emphasizes the protective umbrella paradigm of interwoven, multi-sectoral and reciprocal relationships. It illustrates how 2030 agenda implementation is aided by forging significant, peculiar, intricate, multi-dimensional and essential collaborations, including donor communities; national, regional, state and local governments; individuals, nuclear and extended families, community leaders, heads of social institutions; civil society organizations, and most critically, women and girls everywhere. The paper suggests how to initiate and bring into effective action the processes that will lead to these new enhanced changes for women and girls in each locality. Health promotion and health education theories will be invaluable tools.