Bianca Wernecke1,2, Angela Mathee1,3,4, Zamantimande Kunene1, Yusentha Balakrishna5, Thandi Kapwata1,2, Mirriam Mogotsi1, Neville Sweijd6, Noboru Minakawa7, Caradee Yael Wright8,9. 1. Environment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2. Environmental Health Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, 2028, South Africa. 3. Environmental Health Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. 4. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 5. Biostatistics Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa. 6. Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science, National Research Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa. 7. Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan. 8. Environment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa. 9. Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Abstract
Background: Measuring national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enables the identification of gaps which need to be filled to end poverty, protect the planet and improve lives. Progress is typically calculated using indicators stemming from published methodologies. South Africa tracks progress towards the SDGs at a national scale, but aggregated data may mask progress, or lack thereof, at local levels. Objective: To assess the progress towards achievement of the SDGs in four low-income, rural villages (Giyani) in South Africa and to relate the findings to national SDG indicators. Methods: Using data from a cross-sectional environmental health study, the global indicator framework for the SDGs was applied to calculate indicators for Giyani. Local progress towards SDG achievement was compared with national progress, to contextualize and supplement national scale tracking. Findings: Village scores were mostly in line with country scores for those indices which were computable, given the available data. Low data availability prevented a complete local progress assessment. Higher levels of poverty prevail in the study villages compared to South Africa as a whole (17.7% compared to 7.4%), high unemployment (49.0% compared to 27.3%) and lack of access to information via the Internet (only 4.2% compared to 61.8%) were indicators in the villages identified as falling far short of the South African averages. Conclusions: Understanding progress towards the SDGs at a local scale is important when trying to unpack national progress. It shines a light upon issues that are not picked up by national composite assessments yet require most urgent attention. Gaps in data required to measure progress towards targets represents a serious stumbling block, preventing the creation of a true reflection of local and national scale progress. Copyright:
Background: Measuring national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enables the identification of gaps which need to be filled to end poverty, protect the planet and improve lives. Progress is typically calculated using indicators stemming from published methodologies. South Africa tracks progress towards the SDGs at a national scale, but aggregated data may mask progress, or lack thereof, at local levels. Objective: To assess the progress towards achievement of the SDGs in four low-income, rural villages (Giyani) in South Africa and to relate the findings to national SDG indicators. Methods: Using data from a cross-sectional environmental health study, the global indicator framework for the SDGs was applied to calculate indicators for Giyani. Local progress towards SDG achievement was compared with national progress, to contextualize and supplement national scale tracking. Findings: Village scores were mostly in line with country scores for those indices which were computable, given the available data. Low data availability prevented a complete local progress assessment. Higher levels of poverty prevail in the study villages compared to South Africa as a whole (17.7% compared to 7.4%), high unemployment (49.0% compared to 27.3%) and lack of access to information via the Internet (only 4.2% compared to 61.8%) were indicators in the villages identified as falling far short of the South African averages. Conclusions: Understanding progress towards the SDGs at a local scale is important when trying to unpack national progress. It shines a light upon issues that are not picked up by national composite assessments yet require most urgent attention. Gaps in data required to measure progress towards targets represents a serious stumbling block, preventing the creation of a true reflection of local and national scale progress. Copyright:
Authors: Thandi Kapwata; Angela Mathee; Wouter Jacobus le Roux; Caradee Yael Wright Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2018-08-06 Impact factor: 3.390