COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

Odey, Goodness Ogeyi; Alawad, Abrar Gamal Abdallah; Atieno, Ouma Sarah; Carew-Bayoh, Elsa Olubunmi; Fatuma, Esther; Ogunkola, Isaac Olushola; Lucero-Prisno III, Don Eliseo

Since the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, Africa has made some progress towards its achievements, particularly in the area of gender equality- SDG 5, climate change -SDG 13 and preserving life on land- SDG 15. Although, some African countries have made tangible impact on the other goals such as health, food production and economic growth; these efforts experienced some setbacks with attention shifting to curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus. As much as mitigating the spread of the spread of COVID-19 is important, so is ensuring efforts made on other goals are not lost, as the SDGs are much interconnected, and failure in one impacts others. For the African continent to achieve sustainable development beyond COVID-19, strategic actions which will involve innovations, evaluations and strong political will towards implementations must be taken by relevant stakeholders, so the continent is not left behind in the global goals achievement by 2030.