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Public Health Threats and Pandemics

Another Victim of COVID-19: Sustainable Development

The coronavirus pandemic is a major setback for efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

A boy wearing a protective mask waits for a train in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 27, 2020. Jorge Silva/Reuters

By experts and staff

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  • Stewart M. Patrick
    James H. Binger Senior Fellow in Global Governance and Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program

In my weekly column for World Politics Review, I discuss the implications of COVID-19 for efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The ultimate cost of the coronavirus pandemic won’t be tallied for a while. But one casualty seems obvious now: sustainable development. The pandemic has exposed the world’s failure to meet basic human needs, not least in health. Worse, it threatens to erase recent social, economic and environmental progress, particularly among the world’s most vulnerable populations. Pundits frequently describe the coronavirus as a “great equalizer,” reinforcing the message that “we’re all in this together.” In truth, the pandemic is reinforcing the brutal inequality that separates the world’s privileged and marginalized communities.

Read the full World Politics Review article here.