(Seattle, WA, Tuesday, September 13, 2022) – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released its Goalkeepers Report this week, an annual publication which features stories and data to inspire a new generation of leaders to raise awareness of progress, hold their leaders accountable, and drive action to achieve the Unites Nations Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. This year’s report notes that nearly every indicator of the SDGs is off track at the halfway point for achieving them by 2030. Despite significant setbacks caused by overlapping global crises, the report is optimistic, underscoring opportunities to accelerate progress toward ending poverty, fighting inequality, and reducing the impacts of climate change.

Co-authored by foundation co-chairs Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates, this year’s report, “The Future of Progress,” notes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, wars in Ukraine and Yemen, ongoing climate and food crises, and macro-economic headwinds on global ambitions to improve and save millions of lives by 2030. In their respective essays, French Gates and Gates call for new approaches to achieving gender equality and food security. They also cite dramatic progress in dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic—a nearly 60% decline in annual deaths between 2000 and 2020—as an example of what can happen when the world invests in long-term solutions and innovative approaches to entrenched issues.

Soundbites — Bill Gates, Co-Chair – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT OVERLAPPING CRISES HAVE REVERSED EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE A HEALTHIER, CLIMATE SAFE AND MORE EQUITABLE WORLD. OUR ANNUAL GOALKEEPERS REPORT SHOWS THAT THE WORLD IS BEHIND IN EVERY INDICATOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. THESE INCLUDE AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND HEALTH AND WELL-BEING FOR ALL. HOW THE WORLD RESPONDS TO THESE SETBACKS IS A CHOICE. MILLIONS OF LIVES ARE IN THE BALANCE.
• PAST PROGRESS MAKES ME OPTIMISTIC. FOR EXAMPLE, IN 2000 NEARLY 10 MILLION CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN FIVE DIED. THAT WAS CUT IN HALF BY 2015 THANKS TO INCREASED ACCESS TO LIFE SAVING VACCINES AND STRONGER PRIMARY HEALTHCARE, IMPROVED NUTRITION AND GETTING TOOLS THAT PREVENT DISEASES LIKE HIV, TB AND MALARIA TO THE WORLDS POOREST. WHEN THE WORLD INVESTS IN LONG TERM SOLUTIONS AND INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, WE CAN OVERCOME EVEN THE MOST NEGATIVE PROJECTIONS.
• GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY BEGINS WITH INCREASING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, ESPECIALLY FOR SMALL HOLDER FARMERS LIVING SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND OTHER LOW-INCOME REGIONS. INVESTING IN PROVEN AND INNOVATIVE TOOLS LIKE CLIMATE SMART SEED AND PREDICTIVE MODELING CAN HELP THESE FARMERS ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND REDUCE DEPENDENCY ON FOOD IMPORTS. THIS CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FARMER BEING ABLE TO FEED HER FAMILY AND HAVING SURPLUS TO SELL AT THE MARKET, OR HER FAMILY GOING HUNGRY.