Nursing and midwifery advocacy to lead the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda William E. Rosa, MS, APRN-BC, FCCM, FAANP, FAAN a, *, Ann E. Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH, FAAN b , Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN c , Judith Shamian, PhD, RN, LLD (Hons), DSci (Hons), FAAN d , Holly K. Shaw, PhD, RN e , Lynda L. Wilson, PhD, RN, FAAN f , Nigel Crisp g a University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, PA b Yale University School of Nursing, Orange, CT c NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York, NY d International Council of Nurses President Emerita, Geneva, Switzerland e Department of Global Communications/NGO Executive Committee, NGO Committee on Mental Health, NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, United Nations, New York, NY f University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, Birmingham, AL g All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health, House of Lords, London, United Kingdom ABSTRACT The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was implemented on January 1, 2016 and is composed of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and further delineated by 169 targets. This article offers background information on the 2030 Agenda as it relates to nursing and midwifery, professional organi- zational initiatives currently advancing the SDGs, the ethos of global citizenship, the urgency to respond to dwindling planetary health, the salience of nursing and midwifery advocacy in SDG attainment, and the myriad opportunities for nurses to lead and collaborate toward realizing these Global Goals. A US-based perspective is employed to underscore the Agenda’s relevance to the US nursing workforce and healthcare system. The SDGs, with their holistic bio-psycho- social-environmental approach to health, present enormous opportunities for nurses and midwives. The SDG framework is naturally aligned with the founda- tion philosophy and purpose of our professions. Cite this article: Rosa, W.E., Kurth, A.E., Sullivan-Marx, E., Shamian, J., Shaw, H.K., Wilson, L.L., & Crisp, N. (2019, xxx). Nursing and midwifery advocacy to lead the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Nurs Outlook, 00(00), 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2019.06.013. ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 19 January 2019 Received in revised form 19 May 2019 Accepted 21 June 2019 Keywords: SDGs United Nations Sustainable development, Planetary health Health equity Nurses and midwives are primed to lead changes toward achieving health equity, environmental sustain- ability, and social justice toward a world of peace and an environment in which all can thrive. In September 2015, all 193 Member States of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously adopted a transna- tional initiative focused on improving and safeguarding the well-being of all persons, populations, species, eco- systems, and the planet at large. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was implemented on Jan- uary 1, 2016 and is composed of 17 Sustainable Devel- opment Goals (SDGs) and further delineated by 169 targets (UN, 2016). More specifically, the SDGs, “otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal * Corresponding author: William E. Rosa, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 418 Curie Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail address: wrosa@nursing.upenn.edu (W.E. Rosa). 0029-6554/$ -see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2019.06.013 ARTICLE IN PRESS Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Nurs Outlook 0 0 0 (2019) 1 14 www.nursingoutlook.org