Making the SDGs Work in Real Life: Our Input for the 2027 GSDR
We’ve submitted stakeholder inputs to the UN’s 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), supporting the Independent Group of Scientists (IGS). Our focus: healthcare delivery, digital infrastructure that actually works, and patient advocacy that produces usable evidence.
The Vitiligo Research Foundation has joined the UN’s 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) open call, submitting stakeholder inputs to the Independent Group of Scientists (IGS) appointed by the UN Secretary-General.
Our angle is simple: if the Sustainable Development Goals are meant to work in real life, then health systems can’t be treated like a separate planet. And digital health can’t be treated like a shiny app sitting on top of a messy reality.
In our submission, we focused on three practical priorities:
- Interoperable, rights-respecting data: digital health and data governance that is safe, secure, and built to protect patient rights.
- Lived-experience evidence: formalizing patient advocacy and routine use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical and policy settings.
- Universal access: keeping essential care and medicines accessible to all, even under tight budget constraints.
Definitions:
PROs (patient-reported outcomes) are health outcomes reported directly by patients, without interpretation by clinicians or others. They help capture “what actually changes” in daily life, not just what looks good on paper.
From lived experience to evidence
As a concrete example, we shared our patient-facing, multilingual digital health approach. It combines education, symptom tracking, and PROs — designed to be low-cost, scalable, and usable in resource-limited settings. The aim is straightforward: turn lived experience into evidence that clinicians, researchers, and policymakers can actually use.
Why this matters
For us, “integration” isn’t a slogan. It’s plumbing. Shared outcomes, aligned incentives, interoperable systems, and honest feedback loops from people living with the consequences of policy decisions.
Building on a decade of advocacy at the UN ECOSOC — where we first brought vitiligo into the global spotlight — this submission ensures our work remains central to the 2030 Agenda. We are committed to reaching the 'last mile,' ensuring health and digital infrastructure finally include the communities too often left behind.