Tired but happy eyes look up at Dr. Zin Minn Htet, who places the little crumpled boy in the young mother's arms.

He knows that this is not the norm. In Myanmar the mortality rate for 1000 newborns is 23, and it can be assumed that the number of unreported cases is significantly higher. A birth is therefore still associated with high risks and the doctor is very grateful for every healthy mother and every healthy baby. Above all, he is glad that he can play his part in ensuring that the birth ends happily, at least for the families who come to the Mother and Child Center to give birth.

And it contributes to the 3rd Sustainable Development Goal "Health and Well-being" of the 2030 Agenda, with the goal: "A healthy life for all at all ages [...] and the promotion of their well-being."

The first two targets 3.1. and 3.2. are aimed at reducing maternal mortality worldwide and eliminating preventable deaths among newborns and infants.

At 4.3% infant mortality, the situation in Myanmar is still relatively good in comparison and the country ranks 41st between Ghana and Laos(UN, 2022). In some African countries, the mortality rate is over 10 %. Somalia occupies the sad first place with 11.2 %.

However, the 3rd SDG covers even more: all people should be better protected against both communicable and non-communicable diseases. To ensure this, efforts are being made to ensure that everyone has access to medical care, medicines and vaccines without falling into financial hardship. An extremely important step towards achieving this goal is to give all girls and women the right to participate in family planning and ensure they have access to contraceptives.

Although there has already been some progress in global healthcare in the past, the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed many positive developments. In particular, bottlenecks in supply chains and overstretched healthcare systems have made the pandemic the biggest challenge to achieving SDG 3.

Dr. Zin Min Htet can therefore be all the more grateful that he and his colleagues are able to continue their work despite the pandemic and an extremely difficult political situation in Myanmar . However, even greater gratitude comes from us in Germany: it is simply unimaginable what our teams are still achieving in the projects under these circumstances, and how each and every one of them is contributing to achieving the major global goals.