The pandemic and the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

The coronavirus crisis is wreaking havoc on economies and development around the world. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seemed to be falling apart even before the global coronavirus crisis and, as is often the case with every crisis, the consequences of the pandemic have been most severe in the poorest countries, and particularly in Africa, hampering the achievement of global goals. According to The Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa (SDGC/A), 2020 is expected to see the largest drop in African GDP in 50 years. This would mean that around 20.4 million people will end up in extreme poverty this year. Before the COVID, 400 million Africans were still in poverty (less than 1.9 dollars a day) and by 2030 this figure is estimated to rise to 480 million. In the wake of the pandemic, therefore, reducing poverty (the first SDG) seems to be a more distant goal than ever. Linked to this first objective, the coronavirus crisis has affected the food supply chain, threatening the achievement of the second SDG in Africa, ending hunger and achieving food security. Before the coronavirus crisis, according to FAO data, 52.5 percent of Africa's 1.288 million people were moderately food insecure. Data indicate that 73 million people could experience acute food insecurity as a result of this crisis.  

Regardless of the cases of coronavirus in Africa, it is the measures taken by the governments concerned to slow down the progress of the pandemic that have truly devastated the economy. From area-based mobility restrictions, to massive border closures, to total confinement, these measures have been devastating for all those workers in the informal economy or dependent on sectors that have borne the brunt of this crisis, such as tourism. According to the International Labour Organisation, an estimated nine out of ten workers are informal, the majority of them in the agricultural sector. Lack of social coverage in these states and precarious employment means that workers cannot be unemployed for many months. Only 18% have received any kind of social benefit from the State. Thus, the eighth goal, to promote sustained economic growth and decent work for all, is off track and seems unattainable within 10 years.  

As expected, the third goal related to health and well-being has also lagged behind its chances of being achieved by 2030. Despite the cases and deaths caused by the pandemic, one of the worst consequences of the crisis has been the suspension of vaccination campaigns planned for 2020, aimed at eradicating diseases normally preventable by vaccines. 21 million children should have been vaccinated against several highly contagious diseases in Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Southern Sudan, but the pandemic has meant that these vaccination campaigns have not been carried out. Due to the precarious conditions, malaria has spread throughout sub-Saharan Africa in recent months. Predictions point to a mortality of around 800,000, a return to the mortality rate of the early 2000s.  

Finally, the sector most affected by the coronavirus has undoubtedly been education (SDG 4). This trend has been global, as educational institutions have closed en masse around the world to slow the progress of the pandemic. In Africa, however, the impact of the pandemic on education has been significantly more severe than in the rest of the world. Before the coronavirus crisis, school enrolment figures in the sub-Saharan African region were the lowest in the world. One in five children aged 6 to 11 is not enrolled in or regularly attending school. This figure increased to a third in the 12-14 age group. As a result of the pandemic, 300 million African students who were already in school had to drop out because of restrictive measures imposed by governments. Unlike in other regions of the world, lack of Internet access has prevented students from pursuing distance education programmes. Because of the economic impact of this crisis on low-income families, many of these children will not return to school once the health restrictions end, but will have to go to work to support the family.  

Thus, the potential for positive outcomes on sustainable development goals in Africa has been radically reduced. Such impoverishment of the continent will lead to an increase in security crises and migration crises, which will go beyond borders, as we have already seen with the upsurge of migration on the Mediterranean routes to Europe.