COVID-19 to Drain $400 Billion from UN Sustainability Efforts

The United Nations’ ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were announced at the beginning of 2016. By the end of 2019, however, it was clear that progress toward the 17 goals was not strong enough for them to be met by the 2030 target date. Yet there was some progress, with humanitarian efforts gaining ground in some areas and losing ground in others.

That was before COVID-19.

Now, the impact of the pandemic in the developing world is threatening to erase all advances and even set progress back decades. The U.N. calls the pandemic “the worst human and economic crisis of our lifetime.” More than a billion people around the world who are living in slum conditions are facing high risk of COVID-19 transmission due to lack of sanitation and running water for even the most basic hygienic precautions to slow the spread.