Nigeria and others in sub-Saharan Africa are not expected to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets on child mortality and education by 2030, according to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Goalkeepers’ Report released today, write ROBERT EGBE and OYEBOLA OWOLABI
IT is not all gloom. In Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, and Kollam in India, progress has been made in addressing the inequality caused by geography. An average person in Ado-Ekiti now has more than 12 years of education, and in Kollam, an average person now has 14 years of education, almost comparable to the most developed countries. These are some of the findings of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers’ Report for 2019.
“If we are serious about the SDGs, then we have to accelerate the fight against geographical inequality and make sure that more districts are excelling like Kollam and Ado-Ekiti. No sub-Saharan African country is expected to achieve the SDG targets on both child mortality and education by 2030,” said the report.
The report, which urged countries to ensure its citizens lead valuable lives despite the “natural or human made limitations which threaten their living, observed that in Budaun district in Uttar Pradesh, India, the average person gets approximately six years of education, and in Garki and Jigawa, the average year of education is five. This shows that when juxtaposed with the world standard, the Budauns and Garkis of the world are not catching up fast enough. This gap must be bridged if the world must meet the 2030 target.
“Very few developing countries are projected to meet the health and education SDGs. Nearly two-thirds of the children in low- and middle-income countries live in districts that, at their current rate of progress, won’t reach the SDG target for child mortality by 2030. One third lives in districts that won’t even reach it by 2050,” the report said.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers’ report for 2019 argues that human capital is critical to economic growth in poor countries. This year, its argument is that human capital investment should be designed to reach girls and prioritise those countries and districts that have to make up the most ground. One of those grounds is the gender gap which has kept the girl-child subservient most of her life.
In addressing the gender gap, countries need to re-evaluate the number of girls who get access to quality education. The gatekeepers report notes that girls in sub-Saharan African get fewer years of schooling; 21.7 per cent are married off before their 18th birthday; spend three times more than boys on unpaid jobs and get lesser opportunities in the work environment. “This lack of access to education and jobs is destructive for everyone. It keeps women disempowered, limits their children’s life chances, and slows down economic growth,” the report added.
Unhindered access to quality and affordable healthcare, especially for the female gender, is another way countries can progress in meeting the SGD goals. The report proposes three choices for countries to develop their primary healthcare – spend a little more (at $86, governments of low-income countries could fully fund primary healthcare); spend on right priorities (African governments should stop meeting some people’s needs and instead make do with the infrastructure in secondary and tertiary healthcare until the primary has the investment it needs); spend more efficiently (ensure that the right products are available at the right prices and delivered to the right places at the right times.)
The report also identified stemming infant and maternal mortality as another important goal countries have to reach. This, it notes, can be achieved through educating women with timely information about their nutritional needs and so on.
