Authors Biography: Sanaullah Ali Akbar is a nursing professional and emerging scholar currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing (MScN), Year I, at Aga Khan University Hospital. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Generic Nursing (BSN-G) from Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi. He has approximately two years of clinical experience working as a Clinical Nurse-I in the Department of Surgery at Aga Khan University Hospital. His academic and professional interests include nursing research, mental health and well-being of nurses, and improving the quality of patient care.

Figure 1
Illustration depicting the relationship between nurses’ mental health and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being).

Why is nurses’ mental health the foundation of SDG Goal 3 “Good Health and Well-being”?

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 presents a strong global commitment to achieving “Good Health and Well-being” for everyone; the fulfillment of this goal entirely depends on the mental resilience of the nurses and other healthcare professionals. As we work toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, “Good Health and Well-being”, we usually focus on improving patient well-being and health outcomes, but ignore the health of our nurses. Nurses are considered the backbone of our healthcare systems, yet they continue working under such intense emotional, psychological, and physical pressure. The nurse’s mental health matters most to achieve the vision of universal health and well-being. Nurses are the only healthcare professionals who interact more with the patients than any other healthcare worker, and they are the ones who are often responsible for identifying any deterioration in patients’ health. Although nurses play a critical role in providing care to the patients, at the same time, their mental health is also affected by many factors leading to mental illnesses, such as burnout, emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and occupational stress. Studies have found nurses suffer from a high level of stress and anxiety while working in healthcare settings in the critical care units because of heavy workload and prolonged shifts. Nurses working in these areas are highly at risk of developing mental illnesses, which can negatively affect their clinical performance, the quality of healthcare, resulting in a shortage of nurses, and affecting the overall healthcare system. Awan et al. (2023) found that 80% of nurses experience moderate stress related to heavy workloads and conflicts with physicians. Furthermore, Ullah et al. (2022) identified prolonged shift durations as a primary stressor that requires urgent management. In addition to that, Alkubati et al. (2025) found that nurses working in critical care units with significant anxiety are negatively correlated with their clinical performance, especially when nurses are assigned more than five patients in the ICU setup, leading to an overload. Mukhtar et al. (2026) found a high prevalence of burnout linked to workload, insufficient staffing, and limited organizational support. These findings indicate that the problem is extending beyond individual stress and reveals deeper systemic flaws within the healthcare system.

It’s been growing as an unnoticed, silent epidemic of mental illnesses among nurses, affecting the global health care system. At the same time, it raises a question: how could a nurse with a mental illness provide high-quality care for achieving these international targets? As the mental health of nurses directly affects the patient’s safety and becomes a barrier to achieving the SDG Goal 3. We need to understand that “Good Health and Well-being” for the patients is not achievable if nurses themselves are overwhelmed by ongoing psychological illnesses like burnout, emotional exhaustion, stress, and anxiety. Moreover, one of the studies shows that nurses who suffer from emotional exhaustion are likely to experience decreased concentration and poor decision-making, resulting in compromising the patient’s safety (Clari et al., 2022). While nurses are mentally overwhelmed, it becomes challenging to maintain compassionate and safe care. Because of this, our healthcare system collapses and fails to achieve SDG goal 3, enhancing patient well-being, decreasing mortality, and building a strong healthcare system.

Globally, policymakers need to understand the importance of well-being among our healthcare personnel. The World Health Organization has emphasized that a healthy and supported healthcare workforce is necessary for achieving universal health coverage and sustainable healthcare systems. However, meaningful progress requires more than policy statements. Healthcare authorities must implement effective policies to ensure the protection of mental health and prevention of mental illnesses among nurses.

            In conclusion, the mental health of the nurses is not only a workforce issue but a foundation for achieving SDG Goal 3, which aims to achieve good health and well-being for all. In the healthcare system, nurses’ mental health directly affects patient safety, quality of care, healthcare availability, and organizational sustainability.  Nurses suffering from mental illnesses like burnout, emotional exhaustion, and occupational stress might damage the healthcare system and might risk the global health outcomes, specifically during public health crises and in settings with inadequate resources. Thus, healthcare policy makers and higher healthcare authorities must intervene in order to promote the mental health of nurses, providing supportive work environments, ensuring safe staffing, strengthening leadership support, utilize the resources in the healthcare settings for the protection of the mental health of nurses. Eventually, a healthcare system will not be able to achieve the SDG goal 3 if the mental health of its nurses is persistently ignored.

References

Alharbi, H., & Alshehry, A. (2019). Perceived stress and coping strategies among ICU nurses in government tertiary hospitals in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study. Annals of Saudi Medicine, 39(1), 48-55. https://doi.org/10.5144/0256-4947.2019.48

Alkubati, S. A., Alsaqri, S. H., Alrubaiee, G. G., Almoliky, M. A., Al-Qalah, T., Pasay-an, E., Almeaibed, H., & Elsayed, S. M. (2025). The influence of anxiety and depression on critical care nurses’ performance: A multicenter correlational study. Australian Critical Care, 38(1), 101064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2024.04.008

Awan, H., Urooj, S., Rafiq, N., Ali, A., Rani, N., & Akhtar, Z. (2023). Level of stress and associated factors among nurses working in critical care unit in public sector hospital Lahore Pakistan. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 7(7), 131-138.

Clari, M., Gonella, S., Gatti, P., Garzaro, G., Paleologo, M., Cortese, C. G., & Dimonte, V. (2022). Multi-level analysis of individual and work environment factors associated with nurses' perceived emotional exhaustion. Applied Nursing Research, 63, 151514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2021.151514

Google. (2026). Illustration showing nurses’ mental health as the foundation of Sustainable Development Goal 3 [AI-generated image]. Google AI Studio. https://aistudio.google.com

Mukhtar, M., Ebrahimi, H., & Ali, M. (2026). Burnout among Pakistani nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Nursing, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-04422-4

Ullah, N., Ali, N., Naz, A., Khalid, M., Khalid, F., Shanala, & Zainab, G. (2022). To recognize the causes of stress and its effects among nurses working in the intensive care unit of government hospital Islamabad. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management, 9(3), 94-102. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v9i3.47028