Agenda 2030 in Argentina: perceptions of health experts, comparison with the perceptions of Brazilian experts and the first impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda - a strategy of the United Nations Organization (UN) to promote global and sustainable human development capable of satisfying basic social needs - is still in the initial stages in most of the countries of South America. The scope of this investigation was to consult a group of health experts on the possibilities of Argentina fulfilling the 2030 Agenda, especially the goals of ODS3 - Health and Wellbeing - when they were consulted on obstacles, challenges, and policy recommendations to meet the goals. The change of management of the government in December 2019, and the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, broadened the investigation incorporating the analysis of the incumbent Minister of Health of the Nation on the 2030 Agenda, the study carried out and the current perspectives in the pandemic period. The results were analyzed from a comparative standpoint with a Brazilian study, which revealed that most experts agree on the country’s potential to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda. However, in the analysis of the new Minister of Health, there are “the paradoxes of the pandemic” that relate to the opportunity to empower the health system pursuant to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Key words:
2030 Agenda; SDG; Sustainable development goals; Health and well-being; COVID-19