The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably amplified the existing vulnerabilities of billions of people worldwide. Marginalised communities in developing countries were excluded from social protection and support.
Long-standing economic and social inequalities have deepened with the poor getting poorer. A sharp divide in the distribution of vaccines has revealed major issues in the global health sector.
Economic stimulus packages amounting to about US$10 trillion were assembled in a matter of months — a much larger sum than what governments invested when the 2008 financial crisis struck. Yet, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has largely decelerated.
In fact, the pandemic has made many of the SDGs literally unachievable in the time left until 2030.
Progress towards SDG 6 — Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all — is among the goals most suffering. The world at large was already off track on this before the pandemic.
An estimated 2 billion and 3.6 billion people still live without access to safely managed water supplies and sanitation respectively. Funds needed to tackle this immense challenge were estimated in 2016 to be US$74–166 billion annually until 2030.