‽istis
reclaims vital statistics! (weekending January 18th 2020)
‽istis considered the state we are in through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals reports and webpages (including this week’s Guardian interactive quiz[i]) following links to the world of the ‘2019 Sustainable Development Goals Report’[ii] with its sobering infographics and condemning detail:
‽
that ,perhaps, the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030; there are 3.5million
more malaria cases in 2017 compared to 2016; 750million adults still remain
illiterate; 18% of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15-49 years have
experienced physical and/or sexual violence in the previous 12 months; 785million
people reman without even basic drinking water, ‘9 out of 10 urban residents
breathe polluted air, etc.
but ‽istis rejoiced at the good news of apparent progress:
‽
that, possibly, deaths of children under 5yrs has dropped from 9.8million to
5.4million between 2000 and 2017; incidence of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
15-49yr olds has declined by 37%; the income of the bottom 40% of the
population has grown by more than the national average in more than half of the
92 countries with data; water quality has improved in 104 of the 220 coastal
regions monitored… though ‽istis
wondered at the baseline quality of the water measured and whether this meant that
the glass was now half full or half empty!
And ‽istis came to rest at the ‘Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017’[iii] regarding the ‘Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and thought:
‽ maybe the ‘perhapses’
and ‘possiblies’ (above) are necessary when ‘many national statistical systems
across the globe face serious challenges’ such that ‘accurate and timely
information about critical aspects of people’s lives is unknown’ – and this lack
of information may relate disproportionately to the poorest, the hungriest, those
with the worst health and wellbeing, the least equal, those with least access
to quality education or clean water or sanitation, or literacy and numeracy…
And ‽istis vowed to revisit the webpages and scrutinise future reports – and to ask whether the story they tell (perhaps, possibly, maybe) should lead to congratulations over some improvements for the ‘us’ we can count – even while we may never be able to quantify fully how different the world is not, for those who most need it to be so.
© Pistis
