Sustainable development goals are a collection of 17 goals that apply to all nations and are designed to serve as a transformational guide to a more sustainable future for all. These goals where agreed upon by the United Nations and its 193 member states to serve as a blueprint and a reminder of the type of world we want to live in.
The sustainable development goals touch on issues that threaten our society such as poverty, good health, gender equality, corruption and injustice, to mention a few.
Africa consists of one of the most underserved countries and communities, unlike highly developed countries that are at the forefront of civilization, it lacks exposure and amenities.
So, how far is Africa towards achieving the SDGs?
- NO POVERTY AND ZERO HUNGER
Poverty is simply a state of lack and Africa is considered the poorest continent in the world with a poverty rate of about 41% and the people within this line earn what they can from agriculture or menial jobs
According to Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa the poverty rate declined from 54% in 1990 to 41% in 2015, even though there is a decline in the rate of poverty in Africa, there is still no decline in the actual figure. This is because the poverty rate has not fallen fast enough to keep up with the population growth. This only shows that Africa is far too deep in poverty and will take a huge effort to be lifted out.
The relationship between poverty and hunger is undisputed, more than 226.7 million people are starving in Africa, 22% of Africa’s population is malnourished and that is more than one-third of the world’s number of starving people.
With a poverty rate of 54%, most people earn below $1, hunger is on a rise in Africa and thousands of people die from starvation daily.
This means that the Africa is not close to tackling poverty and hunger.
- GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING, CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 50% of children under five who die of pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are in Africa. This translates to the fact that 5 children under the age of 5 die every 5 minute due to lack of proper health care.
Medicines have to be accessed locally and when they are unavailable they have to be imported. With the number of people below poverty line, most people cannot afford it and they die.
Every year millions of people around the world die from illnesses resulting from lack of adequate water supply and sanitation. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world more conscious and aware of the importance of proper sanitation and hygiene.
In most African countries like Côte d’Ivoire, 63% of the population lacks access to proper sanitation due to the absence of clean water and this is responsible for over 20% of deaths. So in terms of sanitation, Africa is far from it, even though charities and organizations keep supporting with efforts to introduce clean water into the community, it barely scratches the surface and more efforts need to be made and it needs to be made quickly.
- QUALITY EDUCATION AND GENDER INEQUALITY
Africa has the highest number of out-of-school children with more than one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 out of school and almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school.
Girl education is also an ever pressing issue as over 9 million girls between the ages of about 6 and 11 will never go to school at all, compared to 6 million boys. Girl disadvantage starts early: 23% of girls are out of primary school compared to 19% of boys. By the time they become adolescents, the exclusion rate for girls is 36% compared to 32% for boys. This means that gender inequality has eaten too deep into our society and even though significant improvements are being made, it still isn’t enough as an increasing number of children are still being denied the right to education.
- DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, INDUSTRY INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The sustainable development goals are a collection of 17 goals that apply to all nations and are designed to serve as a transformational guide to a more sustainable future for all. promote sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation; there has been a noticeable improvement in technological advancements in Africa since 2008. The growth is obvious but still not enough. Meanwhile unemployment rate as since then tripled in some African countries especially Namibia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa.
Nigeria alone has a labor force of 80.2 million and about 21.7 million are unemployed, a figure that exceeds the population of 35 of Africa’s 54 countries.
The population of Africa is growing exponentially and there are not enough jobs to keep up with the growing labor force, at this rate if more jobs are not created, most people will remain below the poverty line and more people will further drop below it.
- SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES, RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION.
Our cities are growing rapidly and to ensure that they are sustainable we need to create more business opportunities, safe and affordable housing. It also involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and exploring clean energy. All these work together to produce sustainable communities irrespective of the rising population.
More than 55% of the world’s population live in cities, and with this up rise comes an increase in pollution, energy consumption and wastes. These big cities house factories and industries that emit way more carbon and wastes than the earth needs and these emission are the reason for the poor air quality and other forms of pollutions.
Around 7.8 million people will die prematurely from direct or indirect exposure from emissions specifically caused by cooking and factories if this is not watched.
Many measures need to be put in place to ensure responsible consumption and production and these measures are already being taken by larger cities in Africa to eliminate wastes. Such measures include recycling and the use of clean energy.
If these efforts are successful, it is only then we can say that we are a step closer to creating a sustainable community.
- REDUCING INEQUALITY, PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS.
Africa is a continent with many deep rooted issues like Sexual violence, crime, exploitation, corruption etc. A city cannot be sustainable without addressing all these issues. Africa consists of countries with extremely high crime indexes, for example South Africa with crime index of 77.07, making it one of the most dangerous cities in Africa.
The sustainable development goals aim to significantly reduce all forms of violence, and work with governments and communities to end conflict and insecurity.
So where is Africa in this quest for a more sustainable life? One can only say Africa has a long way to go
