Climate change can have detrimental effects on child health and wellbeing. Despite the imperative for a fuller understanding of how climate change affects child health and wellbeing, a systematic approach and focus solely on children (aged <18 years) has been lacking. In this Scoping Review, we did a literature search on the impacts of climate change on child health from January, 2000, to June, 2019. The included studies explicitly linked an alteration of an exposure to a risk factor for child health to climate change or climate variability. In total, 2970 original articles, reviews, and other documents were identified, of which 371 were analysed. Employing an expanded framework, our analysis showed that the effects of climate change on child health act through direct and indirect pathways, with implications for determinants of child health as well as morbidity and mortality from a range of diseases. This understanding can be further enhanced by using a broader range of research methods, studying overlooked populations and geographical regions, investigating the costs and benefits of mitigation and adaptation for child health, and considering the position of climate change and child health within the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Present and future generations of children bear and will continue to bear an unacceptably high disease burden from climate change.

Background Neonatal mortality, often due to birth asphyxia, remains stubbornly high in sub-Saharan Africa. Guidelines for neonatal resuscitation, where achieving adequate positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is key, have been implemented in low-resource settings. However, the actual clinical practices of neonatal resuscitation have rarely been examined in these settings. The primary aim of this prospective observational study was to detail the cumulative proportion of time with ventilation during the first minute on the resuscitation table of neonates needing PPV at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Methods From November 2015 to January 2016, resuscitations of non-breathing neonates by birth attendants were video-recorded using motion sensor cameras. The resuscitation practices were analysed using the application NeoTapAS and compared between those taking place in the labour ward and those in theatre through Fisher’s exact test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results From 141 recorded resuscitations, 99 were included for analysis. The time to initiation of PPV was 66 (42–102) s overall, and there was minimal PPV during the first minute in both groups with 0 (0–10) s and 0 (0–12) s of PPV, respectively. After initiating PPV the overall duration of interruptions during the first minute was 28 (18–37) s. Majority of interruptions were caused by stimulation (28%), unknown reasons (25%) and suction (22%). Conclusions Our findings show a low adherence to standard resuscitation practices in 2015–2016. This emphasises the need for continuous educational efforts and investments in staff and adequate resources to increase the quality of clinical neonatal resuscitation practices in low-resource settings.

A systematic and contextualized assessment of the interactions between the Sustainable Development Goals and health in the Democratic Republic of Congo is currently lacking. This study aimed to characterize and classify the linkages between the Sustainable Development Goals in the DRC with a focus on health and well-being. In this semi-qualitative participatory study, 35 experts assessed 240 interactions between 16 of the 17 SDGs during a two-day workshop in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, using a scale from +3 (strongly promoting) to −3 (strongly restricting). SDG 16 (Peace, justice, and strong institutions) had the strongest promoting influence on other goals and was identified as a key priority for the DRC to attain the SDGs. Progress on SDG 3 (good health and well-being) was perceived as promoting progress on most SDGs, and through second-order interactions, a positive feedback loop was identified. Furthermore, progress on the other SDGs was deemed to promote progress on SDG 3, with SDG 16 having the greatest positive potential when second-order interactions were taken into account. Our results show the importance of recognizing synergies and trade-offs concerning the interactions between health and other SDGs and that it is imperative to set up structures bringing together different sectors to accelerate work towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.

Background: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 compromises 17 universal and indivisible goals for sustainable development, however the interactions between the SDGs in Somalia is not known which is vital for understanding potential synergies and trad-offs between the SDGs. Hence, this study aims to identify and classify the linkages between the SDGs with a focus on health and well-being (SDG 3) in Somalia. Methods: Following the SDG Synergies approach, 35 leading experts from the public and private sectors as well as academia and civil society gathered for a 2-day workshop in Mogadishu and scored the interactions between the individual SDGs on a seven point-scale from − 3 to + 3. From this, a cross-impact matrix was created, and network models were used to showcase the direct and indirect interactions between the SDGs with a focus on SDG 3 (good health and well-being). Results: Many promoting and a few restricting interactions between the different SDGs were found. Overall, SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions) influenced the other SDGs the most. When second-order interactions were considered, progress on SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions) showed the largest positive impact on SDG 3 (good health and well-being). SDG 3 (good health and well-being) was heavily influenced by progress on other SDGs in Somalia and making progress on SDG 3 (good health and well-being) positively influenced progress on all other SDGs. Conclusion: The findings revealed that in Somalia, the interactions between the SDGs are mostly synergistic and that SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions) has a strong influence on progress on other SDGs as well as progress on SDG 3 (good health and well-being). This study highlights the need for a multisectoral strategy to accelerate progress on the SDGs in Somalia in general, and particularly SDG 3 (good health and well-being).

Background: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated, indivisible and interdependent and interact and affect each other directly and indirectly. However, the 2030 Agenda does not attempt to identify or characterise these interactions.Evidence: The SDG Synergies approach was developed to enable the investigation of the strength and nature of interactions between SDGs based on the perception of a multistakeholder group. Two examples are given to concretely demonstrate how this approach overcomes present challenges and can be applied to situate health within the 2030 Agenda.Policy Options and Recommendations: There are clear benefits to situate desired health policy outcomes within the 2030 Agenda, and the SDG Synergies approach can be used as lever for including health aspects in traditional non-health sectors. Although focusing on specific health policies cannot be substituted with multisectoral policies alone, utilizing tools and methods such as the SDG Synergies approach can help policy makers put health at the centre of the SDGs.Conclusion: SDG Synergies is an impactful approach for policy makers to gain a systemic understanding of how broader sustainable development shape the health and well-being of people and vice versa.

Objectives Multisectoral collaboration highlighted as key in delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but still little is known on how to move from rhetoric to action. Cambodia has made remarkable progress on child health over the last decades with multisectoral collaborations being a key success factor. However, it is not known how country stakeholders perceive child health in the context of the SDGs or multisectoral collaborations for child health in Cambodia. Design, settings and participants Through purposive sampling, we conducted semistructured interviews with 29 key child health stakeholders from a range of government and non-governmental organisations in Cambodia. Guided by framework analysis, themes, subthemes and categories were derived. Results We found that the adoption of the SDGs led to increased possibility for action and higher ambitions for child health in Cambodia, while simultaneously establishing child health as a multisectoral issue among key child stakeholders. There seems to be a discrepancy between the desired step-by-step theory of conducting multisectoral collaboration and the real-world complexities including funding and power dynamics that heavily influence the process of collaboration. Identified success factors for multisectoral collaborations included having clear responsibilities, leadership from all and trust among stakeholders while the major obstacle found was lack of sustainable funding. Conclusion The findings from this in-depth multistakeholder study can inform policy-makers and practitioners in other countries on the theoretical and practical process as well as influencing aspects that shape multisectoral collaborations in general and for child health specifically. This is vital if multisectoral collaborations are to be successfully leveraged to accelerate the work towards achieving better child health in the era of the SDGs.