Advancing Sustainable Development Goals Through Nursing: Innovations, Impact, and the Road Ahead
Main Article Content
Abstract
Nursing is increasingly recognized as a transformative force in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This article analyzes nursing’s direct and indirect contributions to the SDGs highlighting the multidimensional role of
nurses in health promotion, education, gender equity, environmental stewardship, economic growth, and social justice.
Nurses play a pivotal role in achieving SDG 3 through preventive care, chronic disease management, emergency response,
and mental health promotion, while also significantly contributing to SDGs related to education, clean water and sanitation,
decent work, reduced inequalities, climate action, and strong institutions. Bibliometric evidence underscores that nursing
research is heavily concentrated on health-related goals, with notable gaps in areas such as poverty reduction and zero
hunger. The article further explores nursing leadership in innovation, sustainability, ethical governance, and partnerships,
emphasizing the need for stronger research integration, policy engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Strengthening nursing education, leadership, and research capacity is essential to maximize its impact on the 2030 Agenda.
The analysis concludes that nursing is not merely a supporting discipline in global development but a central catalyst for
achieving a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable future from very ancient period.
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
World Health Organization. State of the world’s
nursing 2020: investing in education, jobs and
leadership. Geneva: WHO; 2020.
GBD 2019 SDG Collaborators. Measuring progress
and projecting attainment on the basis of past trends
of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals
in 188 countries. Lancet. 2020;396(10259):1260–134.
Nilsson M, Griggs D, Visbeck M. Policy: map the
interactions between Sustainable Development
Goals. Nature. 2016;534(7607):320–322.
Rosa WE, et al. Nursing research and the Sustainable
Development Goals: a bibliometric analysis. Int Nurs
Rev. 2025;72(1):12–25.
Arowosegbe AO, Ojo DA, Shittu OB, Ekpo UF, et al.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and infection
prevention practices in traditional birth homes in
Southwest Nigeria. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21:912.
Holmberg C, Ahlström L. Nursing research and
the SDGs: mapping global evidence. Nurs Outlook.
;73(2):101–109.
Reutter LI, Sword W, Meagher-Stewart D, Rideout E.
Nursing students’ experience of a poverty simulation
and its impact on empathy and social justice
awareness. J Nurs Educ. 2004;43(3):130–135.
World Health Organization. Household air pollution
and health. Geneva: WHO; 2023.
Haines A, Ebi K. The imperative for climate action to
protect health. N Engl J Med. 2019;380(3):263–273.
Watts N, Amann M, Arnell N, et al. The 2020 report of
The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change.
Lancet. 2021;397(10269):129–170.
Prüss-Ustün A, Wolf J, Bartram J, et al. Burden of
disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene
for selected adverse health outcomes. Trop Med Int
Health. 2019;24(5):607–617.
Marmot M, Allen J, Goldblatt P, et al. Fair society,
healthy lives: strategic review of health inequalities in
England. Lancet. 2010;376(9746):1125–1137.
Kickbusch I, Gleicher D. Governance for health in the
st century. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for
Europe; 2012.
Rasanathan K, Bennett S, Atkins V, et al. Governing
multisectoral action for health in low- and middleincome
countries. PLoS Med. 2017;14(4):e1002285.
United Nations Environment Programme. Preventing
the next pandemic: zoonotic diseases and how to
break the chain of transmission. Nairobi: UNEP; 2020.
Horton R, Lo S. Planetary health: a new science for
exceptional action. Lancet. 2015;386(10007):1921–1922.
World Health Organization. Strengthening primary
health care through nursing and midwifery. Geneva:
WHO; 2019.
Crisp N, Brownie S, Refsum C. Nursing and
midwifery: the key to the rapid and cost-effective
expansion of universal health coverage. Doha: World
Innovation Summit for Health; 2018.