The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the sustainable development goals in Iraq... Reality and challenges

Abstract

The Corona pandemic has cast a shadow over various aspects of economic, social, health, and environmental life in the world in a short period since the outbreak of the epidemic in late December 2019. The size of the impact depends on various determinants, including the availability of health, economic and social infrastructure, Iraq’s prior preparedness to confront crises, the speed of response to them, and the strength of health and economic systems capable of absorbing sudden shocks. In the face of achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development, expectations about the impact of the pandemic indicate the possibility of a decline in the chances of achieving the goals of the global sustainable development plan by 2030, with the exacerbation of the size of the losses that afflicted Iraq’s economy.

All of these and other factors led to a significant deterioration in the indicators of sustainable development in Iraq, especially political instability, the challenge of data, the problem of the population explosion, and a significant decrease in the rates of public spending on health and education. Before the pandemic, some kind of improvement began on these indicators, although they were still far from ambitious.