Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all: the role of Ghanaian academic libraries in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Good health and well-being are central to human development. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 highlights the aspirations of this new universal agenda towards healthy living and well-being by 2030. All institutions, stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership are expected to help national government attain the SDGs.

This paper assesses the role of ten academic libraries in Ghana in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 3. Using the case study approach, ten librarians were interviewed to ascertain the current and future roles in attaining the SDG3, their mode of collaboration and the challenges they encounter in the implementation of SDG3. Findings reveal that librarians have been collaborating with health and allied institutions in an often subtle manner to address some health concerns of the communities they serve. Traditional authorities, youth groups, faith-based organisations as well as government agencies were identified as potent partners for libraries to collaborate with to help attain the SDG 3. Interpersonal methods such as Focus Group Discussions and role-play, as well as mass methods such as print, electronic and social media, posters and flyers were identified as efficient means to reach out to people for the purposes of ensuring healthy lives and well-being. Issues which emerged as possible threat to this effort include perceived role conflict, funding, credibility of information, community acceptance. It is recommended that for any initiative of this nature to succeed, there must be a strong policy at the local or inter-institutional level for increased cooperation. Librarians on the other hand, are expected to assert themselves and play a strong advocacy role in addressing an important national agenda such as the SDG3.