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The human microbiome, global health and the Sustainable Development Goals: opportunities and challenges

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 21, pages 624–625 (2023)Cite this article

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The human microbiome has a crucial role in global health, with implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Understanding and harnessing the potential of the microbiome, while recognizing its link to the global ecosystem, can drive innovative strategies for improved public health, and promote sustainable development.

The human gut microbiota is a complex community of organisms that affects the metabolic and immune status of the host, and is a modifier of the risk of globally important diseases1. However, there is a disconnect between much of current microbiome research and its potential to contribute to sustainability. In 2015, the United Nations (UN) published 17 goals to direct the world towards a path of sustainable development: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These SDGs and their 169 targets are embodied in the ‘UN 2030 Agenda’. Two decades of exciting microbiota research have identified strong roles in several SDGs, especially ‘SDG 3: good health and well-being’. In addition to progress in microbiological and medical sciences, a unique and perhaps even more important outcome from microbiota research is a less anthropocentric and more ecocentric view of ourselves. In this article, we summarize the links between human microbiota research and the wider SDG agenda, and we highlight some of the challenges and opportunities for embodying microbiome research in the implementation of the SDGs.

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Acknowledgements

Work in P.W.O.T.’s laboratory is supported in part by awards from Science Foundation Ireland to APC Microbiome Ireland; the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine (Government of Ireland) FIRM programme; the European Union’s Horizons programme (MASTER-818368); and its Research and innovation programme (IHMCSA; 964590). P.W.O.T. is a research proposal reviewer/advisor for The Weston Family Foundation, and the US Highbush Blueberry Council. Work by M.P. at UNESCO-TWAS is supported by the Italian Government, the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the Elsevier Foundation. The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of UNESCO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Paul W. O’Toole

  2. APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Paul W. O’Toole

  3. The World Academy of Sciences (UNESCO), Trieste, Italy

    Max Paoli

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  1. Paul W. O’Toole
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  2. Max Paoli
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Correspondence to Paul W. O’Toole.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

Horizon Europe project MASTER: https://www.master-h2020.eu/

Human Microbiome Action: https://humanmicrobiomeaction.eu/

Human Microbiome Project: https://hmpdacc.org/

International Human Microbiome Consortium: https://ihmc2024rome.com/

Microbiome Support Consortium: https://www.microbiomesupport.eu/

One Health fact sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/one-health

UNESCO-TWAS: https://twas.org/

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O’Toole, P.W., Paoli, M. The human microbiome, global health and the Sustainable Development Goals: opportunities and challenges. Nat Rev Microbiol 21, 624–625 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00924-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00924-z

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