Some 71 million people will fall back into extreme poverty this year, according to the United Nations' 2020 Sustainable Development Goals Report, marking the first increase in global poverty since 1998. This is due to the social and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is hitting the most vulnerable populations hardest.
The complicated situation in which the coronavirus has placed the nearly 200 affected countries, which have had to impose restrictions and confinements to control infections, is assuming serious economic consequences and the abrupt interruption of many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), like the SDG No. 1, which seeks to eradicate poverty anywhere in the world.
According to the United Nations, loss of income, limited social protection, and rising prices are increasing the risk of poverty and hunger among people who were previously safe. This situation was confirmed last June by the International Monetary Fund, stating in its update of the World Economic Outlook (WEO report) that: âGlobal growth is projected at -4.9% in 2020; that is, 1.9 percentage points lower than the forecast in the April 2020 edition of the World Economic Outlook.â
According to this organization, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on economic activity during the first half of 2020 than expected and, therefore, the recovery will be more gradual and slower than they initially predicted. In addition, âThe adverse impact on low-income households is particularly acute., and would jeopardize the significant progress in the fight against extreme poverty achieved worldwide since the 1990s.â
Fish vendor in Mabesseneh, Lunsar, Sierra Leone. Photo: Juan Ciudad NGO.
On the one hand, as more families fall into extreme poverty, Children from poor and disadvantaged communities are at much greater riskr from becoming involved in child labor, child marriage, and child trafficking. This, according to the United Nations, will also reverse the progress made worldwide in reducing child labor.
On the other hand, the International Labour Organization estimates that Nearly 80% of the approximately 2 billion people employed in the informal sector worldwide have been affected significantly. In our country, according to the Bank of Spain's projections published on June 8, the unemployment rate will rise significantly this year, which could reach 18.11% of the working population (in an early recovery scenario) or 19.61% of the working population (in a gradual recovery scenario).
Given this situation, the International Monetary Fund recommends that âall countries, including those that appear to have left the peaks of infection behind, should ensure that their health systems have adequate resources.â Furthermore, it states that âStrong multilateral cooperation in multiple areas remains essential"Backup liquidity is urgently needed for countries facing health crises and external financing gapsâfor example, through debt relief and financing through the global financial safety net."
Current situation of COVID-19
At the moment the pandemic is progressing unevenly, being The Americas region bears the highest burden of COVID-19, with a total of more than 13 million cases. confirmed cases and nearly half of all new cases reported in the last week. The United States remains the country with the most cases (6 million), followed by Brazil (3.8 million), India (3.6 million), Russia (1 million), Peru, South Africa, Colombia, and Mexico (these four with more than 600,000); and then Spain, Argentina, and Chile (with more than 400,000).
Europe and Southeast Asia have about 4.2 million cases respectively, and the trend is that they continue to increase; unlike in the Eastern Mediterranean (2 million), Africa (1 million) and the Western Pacific (500,000), where cases have decreased compared to last week and the trend seems to indicate that the situation is improving.
WHO data on the evolution of COVID-19 cases and deaths between December and August 2020.
However, In most countries affected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, health systems have had to make an extra effort. to control infections and treat the most serious cases of COVID-19. This has led to the interruption of certain health and vaccination services, which in countries with lower levels of development has compounded the limited access to nutrition and food services.
Two circumstances that, according to the United Nations, could cause Hundreds of thousands of additional deaths among children under five and tens of thousands of additional maternal deaths in 2020. In addition to affecting other vulnerable groups such as the elderly or people with disabilities. This directly affects the achievements made so far in the SDG No. 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for everyone at all ages.
In this sense, the WHO has confirmed with a survey carried out in 105 countries during the period between March and June 2020, which 90% suffered interruptions in its health services, with low- and middle-income countries experiencing the greatest difficulties.
Furthermore, most countries reported that many routine and optional services had been suspended, as was the case in some areas of Spain during the most severe months of the COVID-19 epidemic. In low-income countries the situation was worse, as they indicated that critical servicesâsuch as cancer screening and treatment and HIV treatmentâhad suffered high-risk disruptions.
For the WHO, the study "shows that Even the most robust health systems can be quickly overwhelmed and compromised by a COVID-19 outbreak., reinforcing the need for sustained data collection and strategic adaptations to ensure the continued provision of essential care services." Therefore, they are creating a platform called the COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub.
We are now a third of the way to reaching the 17 SDGs in 2030And if before the COVID-19 outbreak, âprogress had been uneven and more focused attention was needed in most areas,â as the United Nations points out, we must now adapt to an uncertain scenario with resurgences and rebel against its regression.
The coronavirus pandemic forces us to be resilient and continue working for a better world, where human rights are respected and we build sustainable human development without inequalities. At Juan Ciudad NGO, we are committed to this, and we want to count on you in this arduous task.
Here you can expand the sources used in this article:
UN Sustainable Development Goals 2020 Progress Report:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/progress-report/
WHO Weekly Reports on COVID-19:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
Bank of Spain's Spanish economic projection reports:
https://www.bde.es/bde/es/secciones/informes/boletines/relac/Boletin_Economic/Informes_de_proy/
Results of WHO survey on health service disruption due to COVID-19:
https://www.who.int/es/news-room/detail/31-08-2020-in-who-global-pulse-survey-90-of-countries-report-disruptions-to-essential-health-services-since-covid-19-pandemic
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By: Adriana Castro TerĂĄn, Communications Manager for Juan Ciudad NGO.
Photos: Juan Ciudad NGO.
Chart: WHO.
