UN Sustainable Development Goals – Courses (Free)

UN Sustainable Development Goals – Courses (Free): Adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals with 169 targets that the UN is committed to working towards through the year 2023 with the hope of creating lasting positive change and freedom in the general areas of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. The purpose of these goals is to create a framework for development programs that will focus on eradicating poverty, hunger, violence, fear, and disease and promoting literacy, equality, human rights, sanitation and hygiene, education, and physical, mental, and social well-being. These goals are meant to build on the Millennium Development Goals and work towards the three key areas the UN identifies for sustainability, which are economic, social, and environmental development.
The SDG Initiative
In addition to the implementation of the SDGs, 17 various universities have worked to create an initiative to educate learners about the SDGs and how they can contribute to achieving them. Coursera is the primary platform where these courses are offered for the general public in the form of online classes with the hope of increasing participation in the work being done towards these goals. The courses often provide a hands-on experience with an NGO or international organization who is working to achieve the SDGs through their work. The participating universities hope to offer a global education on these goals and ways to get involved.
The SDGs and Courses Offered
The SDGs are 17 goals with a total of 169 targets among them, most of which are meant to be achieved by 2030. These goals strive to work towards sustainable economic, social, and environmental development on a global scale. You can read in-depth reports about these goals and the progress being made towards achieving them at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org. Courses offered through the SDG initiative cover one or more of the goals through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Good health and well-being (Goal 3)

• Goal 3—Good health and well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Through this goal, the hope is to significantly reduce the maternal mortality rate, end preventable deaths for newborns and children under five years of age, and end the disease epidemics for AIDs, malaria, tuberculosis, tropical diseases, hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases. It also strives to reduce premature mortality from communicable diseases, strengthen prevention and treatment of substance abuse, and halve the number of deaths and injuries from traffic accidents. This goal also focuses on promoting global access to sexual and reproductive health services, achieving universal health coverage, and reducing the number of deaths from hazardous chemicals in air, water, and soil.

Available MOOCs on SDG 3:

• Leiden University (SDG Partner Project) 
  De-mystifying Mindfulness
  PROJECT You are challenged to create a real life project to spread the awareness of Mindfulness. The course works in collaboration with the Oxford Mindfulness centre, and project examples include the Mindful Garden by Leiden University’s Centre for Innovation together with local The Hague partner
• Other courses available:
  1. University of Cape Town: Organ Donation: From Death to Life
  2. University of Copenhagen: Diabetes – the Essential Facts; An introduction to Global Health
  3. University of Geneva: Global Health at the Human-Animal-Ecosystem Interface; Ebola: vaincre ensemble!; In the footsteps of Zika…approaching the unknown; Global Health: an interdisciplinary overview
  4. Leiden University: Anatomy of the Stomach and Pelvis; Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
  5. University of Manchester: Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in Developing Countries Part 1: Understanding Complex Problems; Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in Developing Countries Part 2: Developing Effective Interventions
  6. Utrecht University: Ebola: Essential Knowledge for Healthcare professionals

UN Sustainable Development Goals – Courses (Free)

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