학술논문

Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals: How Is Health Framed in the Norwegian and Swedish Voluntary National Review Reports?
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
International Journal of Health Policy and Management. June 2022, Vol. 11 Issue 6, p810, 10 p.
Subject
Sweden
Norway
Language
English
ISSN
2322-5939
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. Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, Voluntary National Reviews, Discourse Analysis, Framing Analysis, Nordic Region Copyright: [c] 2022 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Lillehagen I, Heggen KM, Tomson G, Engebretsen E. Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals: how is health framed in the Norwegian and Swedish voluntary national review reports? Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022;11(6):810-819. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.221
Background 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) [...]