Sustainable Development Goals: Sub-Saharan Africa

               I chose sustainable development goal 2, with the mission to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (SDG, 2019). According to The United Nations, malnutrition is on the rise again with “An estimated 821 million people – approximately 1 in 9 people in the world – were undernourished in 2017, up from 784 million in 2015" (SDG, 2019).

               The first country I decided to concentrate on was Sub-saharan Africa. According to UNICEF, “Six million children are affected by life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in West and Central Africa” (2020). This is a staggering amount and incompletely unacceptable. This demonstrates how important the sustainable development goals are and why they need to be implemented.

The SDG's will be implemented by all stakeholders and The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (WHO, 2020). As mention by WHO, "Implementation and success will rely on countries’ own sustainable development policies, plans and programmes, and will be led by countries" (2020).

The Sustainable development goals will be monitored by global indicators and national indicators (WHO, 2020). According to The World Health Organization, "The follow-up and review process will be informed by an annual SDG Progress Report to be prepared by the Secretary-General" (2020).

The Cost for this project is estimated at around five to seven trillion yearly (WHO,2020). Although it might be a bit difficult, it is very much possible, there is a sufficient amount of assets in order for this to be achieved.

Climate Change only makes achieving the sustainable development goals harder. According to the world health organization, "Tackling climate change and fostering sustainable development are two mutually reinforcing sides of the same coin; sustainable development cannot be achieved without climate action. Conversely, many of the SDGs are addressing the core drivers of climate change" (2020). In other words, in order to achieve one, you have to work towards fixing the other as well. In the end, however, we will benefit regardless.

            Unfortunately for  Sub- Saharan Africa, "The region’s growth over the SDG period been well below the SDG target of 7 percent per year and also below the historical long-term average"(Begashaw, 2019). Africa also fails to meet the requirements for investment needs, it is just not a priority for them right now.

Photo by Brett Zeck on Unsplash

References:
https://www.unicef.org/wca/malnutrition
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/07/29/africa-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-a-long-way-to-go/