Health and Wellbeing
Good Health and Wellbeing Across the Globe
United Nations Sustainability Goal number three focuses on good health and wellbeing across the globe. People should have access to medicines and sanitation as a basic human right, but we are well aware that most people don’t. Even those in so called developed countries are struggling, in the UK our NHS is buckling under the strain and in the US, if you don’t have health insurance, having a baby can prove itself unaffordable. With the aim of the Sustainability Goals being to ‘transform our world’ – bringing an end to poverty and inequality, ensuring all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity – health and wellbeing is definitely one of the top priorities.
The Good Health and Wellbeing goal has been split into a series of subsections that further highlight the main aims. These include reducing global maternity mortality rates, reducing infant mortality rates, bringing an end to epidemics such as AIDS and tuberculosis and ensuring there is universal access to sexual and reproductive health services. These tasks are undoubtedly an enormous undertaking and with such a huge responsibility it can be difficult to know where to begin.
How Our Homes Affect Our Health
Our 1% Better mission looks to break down some of these huge tasks and focus, instead, on incremental change. We want to highlight how small changes can make a big difference and how, by being just 1% better every day, we can promote better health and wellbeing for ourselves. Poor living conditions can lead to a host of health concerns. Poor ventilation can lead to mould which increases the risk of wheezing, asthma and respiratory illnesses, for example. Dirty carpets can lead to allergies and cold indoor conditions have been associated with cardiovascular disease. By focusing on where we live and the homes of our immediate neighbours, we can identify what needs to be changed locally, improving the lives of our loved ones.
Our homes not only affect our physical health, but where we live can have a massive effect on our mental health too. Housing problems, such as moving regularly, can lead to feeling less secure which can affect relationships, in turn leading to depression or low self-esteem. Depression and low self esteem can also come from living in overcrowded homes, or homes that don’t adequately meet our individual needs. For those of us that have free rein on our homes and their design, there is evidence to suggest the smaller details, such as interior design, can have a bigger effect on our mental health than previously recognised.
This Autumn our 1% Better mission will turn to health and wellbeing. The SOLID team will focus on changes that can be made to our own homes and the communities we live in. We will look at how design can affect mental health and how new housing can be built which avoids over crowding or homelessness issues.
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