Abstract
Background: The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are parts of an ambitious framework for global development, the 2030 Agenda. Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are described as "cornerstones" in the followup system, which is premised on international sharing of knowledge and experience. Norway and Sweden are among the world’s most sustainable countries, aiming to be leaders in the implementation of the SDGs. The objective of this article is to investigate and compare how health is framed in the VNRs of these two high-income countries, and to discuss the implications of these framings for potential actions. Methods: Discourse analysis inspired by the concept of ‘framing,’ which refers to the discursive presentation of an issue where certain problem definitions and solutions are privileged over others. Frames are structures that organise and direct attention to particular aspects of reality, and define what is seen.Results: Our analysis demonstrates that in the Norwegian VNR (NVNR), the issue of health is simplistically framed, focusing on the favourable situation of the majority, thus providing weak grounds for transformative action. In the Swedish VNR (SVNR), health is framed to highlight health as inextricably tied to societal inequalities. This underscores the need for integrated political action and leadership to counteract structural differences with negative consequences for health.Conclusion: Analysis of the two VNRs studied found a difference in how health is framed in these documents and these frames point to differences in approach and capacity to address health inequities and realise the holistic and integrative concept of health promoted in the 2030 Agenda. To realize the Agenda’s vision of "leaving no one behind" discourses of implementation that support the Agenda’s inclusive and holistic ambition must be developed. Further development of the follow-up and review system should acknowledge and address how frames can limit or enable integrative actions and are therefore important drivers of change.
Highlights
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of an ambitious universal framework for global development: the 2030 agenda.[1]
In this article we present an analysis of the Norwegian Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) (NVNR) from 2016,17 and the Swedish VNR (SVNR) from 2017,18 focusing on and comparing how health is framed in descriptions of and indicators chosen for the domestic implementation of the 2030 Agenda
In the NVNR it is stated in a section called “Challenges at the national level” that: “Among the targets that are likely to remain the focus of political attention and policy development are those relating to sustainable consumption and production, health and education, equality, employment, and migration.”[17]. The paragraph further contains a list of challenges identified at the national level
Summary
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of an ambitious universal framework for global development: the 2030 agenda.[1]. A key instrument of the system is the indicator framework developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDG), consisting of about 230 statistical indicators.[8] Another central feature of the follow-up and review system is the ‘voluntary national review reports’ (VNRs). Reporting on the status of SDG implementation “based on statistical data, using SDG indicators to the extent possible and outlining the factors of success or failure to achieve progress,” the VNRs are described as: “the cornerstone of the follow-up and review system.”[9] The purpose of the VNRs is to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as well as to: “strengthen policies and institutions of governments and to mobilize multi-stakeholder support and partnerships.”[10] VNRs are described as: “voluntary and country-led, will take into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and will respect policy space and priorities.”[9] The VNRs will serve as the basis for the regular reviews by the high-level political forum (HLPF). Per December 2019, 158 nations had presented a VNR.[10]
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