Cofounder, former CEO, and current Board Chair, Childbirth Survival International Adjunct Professor, Global Health, Towson University, Maryland
The start of 2020 was a pivotal moment for various stakeholders in the global health and development fields—to strengthen efforts to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs 2030 Agenda was established on the heels of 2015 to replace the 8 Millennium Development Goals (2000 – 2015), providing a set of global standards not only for developing countries but also for developed countries to identify areas to prioritize, strengthen data systems to track progress, and collaborate to achieve the SDGs by the end of 2030.
“The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030”—United Nations. The SDGs 2030 Agenda is all encompassing—to address global hunger, poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, justice, and establishment of partnerships to achieve all the ambitious goals. Five years into SDGs implementation and ten more to go, international and local partners in the midst of interpreting, modifying, and implementing workplans connected to the achievement of some or all of the 17 SDGs were unaware of a paralysis that would cause suspension of those plans.
In mid-March 2020, the world was brought to its knees by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as it spread rapidly outpacing scientists, researchers, and world leaders—causing global anxiety and confusion. I personally remember, after Women’s Day on March 8, 2020, advising an in-country team in Uganda to suspend upcoming activities and to prepare to respond to acute community needs in particular food insecurity and supporting pregnant women to have safe childbirths and postpartum support for the first 28 days.
The COVID-19 pandemic not only paralyzed health and development workplans but catalyzed the urgency and need to prioritize addressing well-known inefficiencies within healthcare systems in developed and developing countries, the marginalization and discrimination of women, girls, and people with disabilities, and the need to unpack complicated conversations around systemic racism and policy reform. In developing countries—where we see high maternal mortality, approximately 500 to 700 pregnant women die daily due to pregnancy related complications, high newborn and infant deaths, among other reported and documented statistics—COVID-19 increases the risk of death and disability. This increase is due to the overwhelming of healthcare systems and pandemic response protocols that create barriers, interrupting access to basic health care and resources.
While the SDGs were intended to advance global peace and prosperity, a 21 st century pandemic was overlooked in disrupting that vision. The current SDGs framework does not include a Global Health Security goal—ideal and very important for a timely and coordinated response to a global pandemic—leaving experts and leaders to facilitate individualized country plans and actions, some with little to no resources readily available, and some with no established plans or policies to respond to COVID-19.
In my opinion and some other global health experts will agree, COVID-19 has brought the opportunity for nations, global health experts, and world leaders to consider adding SDG 18 for Global Health Security.
It is important for countries, developed and developing, to be prepared, have the modern technology, surveillance infrastructure, and a team of experts to guide prompt emergency responses, dissemination of easy-to-understand public health information, and decision-making processes to effectively manage a pandemic. The next pandemic or global disaster should not have a COVID-19 response! From a global health lens zooming into developing countries on track to achieve the SDGs, the global health community was immediately bombarded with, “how will pregnant women continue to receive prenatal care?”, “how will health facilities without running water be expected to perform?”, “how will the healthcare systems respond to non-COVID-19 patients?”, “how will individuals on HIV treatment sustain their medication?” and “how will individuals with disabilities be protected?”. The “how will” list goes on and on because the pandemic has increased hardships for individuals, families, communities, and will put a sizeable dent in global health gains to achieving the SDGs by 2030.
The SDG Center for Africa in Kigali, Rwanda has published five guidelines to support African countries respond to COVID-19 to avoid a total breakdown of their health systems and high case fatality rates from the pandemic. Having worked on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, and Community Health (RMNCACH) programs since 2005, COVID-19 has given a new level of attention to the minimized rights, health, opportunities, and well-being of women—black women, women of color, indigenous women, adolescent girls, and women with disabilities, globally. Especially in developing countries, COVID-19 has resulted in more pregnant women giving birth unattended and dying in childbirth; more women experiencing genderbased violence; more women being denied reproductive health services; more women being potentially exposed to coronavirus because of their jobs as front line health workers; and due to lockdown measures, women are unable to run their small businesses and are now financially challenged to feed their children and their families.
Reflecting on one of my favorite books, Half the Sky by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheryl WuDunn and New York Times Journalist Nicholas Kristof, COVID-19 has brought the women’s stories to life as they are being told by millions of women around the world today. Women are the backbone of families, communities, and societies; evidence-based research shows the significant ripple effect of a healthy, safe, educated, and financially secure woman in increasing child survival, improving health of her family, owning land/property, being a leader in building her community, and being a key stakeholder in strengthening her country’s economy.
While COVID-19 has temporarily stalled our progress towards the SDGs, it may however have catalyzed the acceleration and political will to implement the SDGs by ensuring women are not left behind this time. Before COVID-19, unacceptable statistics such as maternal deaths of about 800 per day globally to an estimated 1,000 new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women (15-24 years) per day in sub-Saharan Africa alone, didn’t quite make the news for a global response—a response that would accelerate achievement of the SDGs.
At the individual level, COVID-19 has made people more appreciative of the important things in life—family, time, peace, health, security; similarly at the global health level, my hope is that when we come out of COVID-19, public health experts, nonprofit organizations, the private-sector, and world leaders maximize collaborations centered on improving the social status of women because women are at the core of the SDGs 2030 Agenda success.
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