Bill Gates urges heroic efforts to correct inequality

By Zhang Liying
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, September 18, 2019
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation publishes the report "Goalkeepers: Examining Inequality" to assess the world's progress toward Sustainable Development Goals previously set by the United Nations, on Sept. 17, 2019. [Photo courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]

Despite improving health and education across the world, inequality remains substantial between and within countries, according to the latest Goalkeepers report published by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday. 

Goalkeepers is an annual report card on the world's progress toward  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the member states of the United Nations, with a committed deadline 2030. 

"If we hope to accelerate progress, we must address the inequality that separates the lucky from the unlucky," wrote Bill and Melinda Gates in the report's introduction. 

Geography and gender: Principal causes of inequality 

The 2019 report, entitled "Goalkeepers: Examining Inequality," pointed out that birthplace is the most decisive factor of a person's future, and that gender inequality further hinders approximately half of humanity. 

For example, a child under five-year old in Chad is nearly 55 times less likely to survive childhood than one living in Finland (the population of Chad is nearly three times of that in Finland) -- a ratio so lopsided that it verges on incomprehensible, said the report. 

Furthermore, inequality between districts within a single country can be enormous. The report offers India as a prime example, where only 1% of young children in Kerala state's Kollam district die, and the average person has more than 14 years of education, numbers on par with the most developed countries in the world. Yet in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh, child mortality exceeds 8% and the average education is only six years. 

On the subject of gender, the report added, "Gender inequality cuts across every single country on Earth. No matter where you are born, your life will be harder if you are born a girl."

In a telephone interview with China.org.cn earlier this month, Bill Gates said that the Gates Foundation issues a Goalkeepers report around the time of the U.N. General Assembly each year in order to remind the international community that they are making progress, but not as fast as they should be. 

"No matter what the distractions in the middle-income and rich countries are, the poorest still deserve the heroic work that's gotten us this far," Gates said. 

Health and education: The start to removing inequality 

The Goalkeepers report stated that inequality is exceedingly complex and that there is no "silver bullet" that will remove the significance of geography, gender, and other circumstantial factors. 

However, assuring that every child has access to good health and education systems is a start in the right direction, according to the report's authors. 

Countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Thailand serve as examples in delivering basic care to all their citizens, said the report, which explained how others can learn from those model countries' experience. 

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