Policy Coherence, Health and Sustainable Development Goals: A Health Impact Assessment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

In 2015, the international community negotiated a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to replace the Millenium Development Goals. The SDGs were implemented against the backdrop of neoliberal globalization and the deepening of global trade and investment agreements. Through the proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements (RTAs),  concern arose around the potential incoherences between trade and health. The SDGs are highly relevant for anyone focused on this health and nutrition gap, as they deeply impact resource allocation in global development programs. For progress in implementing the SDGs, ensuring policy coherence for sustainable development is essential.

A journal article in Critical Public Health by Arne Ruckert, Ashley Schram, Ronald Labonté, Sharon Friel, Deborah Gleeson and Anne-Marie Thow conducts a health impact assessment to identify potential incoherences between contemporary RTAs and nutrition and health-related SDGs.

The findings suggest that obligations in RTAs may conflict with several of the SDGs. Areas of policy incoherence include the spread of unhealthy commodities, threats to equitable access to essential health services, medicines and vaccines and reduced government regulatory flexibility. The article also identities scenarios for future incoherence, with recommendations for how these can be avoided or mitigated. These recommendations include giving health experts a seat at the table and implementing specific safeguards in RTAs. While recognizing that governments have multiple policy objectives that may not always be coherent, the authors contend that states implementing the SDGs must give greater attention to ensure that binding trade agreements do not undermine the achievement of SDG targets.