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At the 2019 launch of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, the Secretary-General said that the UN should lead by example and raise its standards and performance on disability inclusion. That includes all UN digital platforms. The UNSDG website and social media channels are walking the talk on boosting accessibility. 

Before the pandemic, Zaynab's husband was a minibus driver who spent long days driving between the city of Niamey and surrounding towns. Though Zaynab (not her real name) would have preferred he spend more time at home with their 2-year-old son, she was accustomed to the situation. 

The family life of Fagnosea Alphonse and Masy Suzanne, respectively 40 and 39 years old, originally from Tanandava, district of Amboasary south in the Anosy region (in the south of Madagascar), have now evolved well. Even their children can recall the hardships their family experienced before.  

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Domitilla Noh, 45, has found it difficult to access healthcare services. She lives in Guinea Grass, a small village in the Orange Walk District of Belize. When the town’s only nurse was relocated to assist with pandemic relief efforts, residents were left with few options.

Monday morning. As usual, Stéphanie, 4 years old, a kindergartener, has to go to school. At 6am, her mother Hélène goes to wake her up so that she can get ready. She finds her daughter unconscious. Panic-stricken and distraught, she tells her husband and they rush to the hospital. The diagnosis was made: Stéphanie was suffering from neuromalaria or pernicious access, the most severe form of malaria. She was taken to the intensive care unit and regained consciousness only days later, on Friday. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are perhaps the most ambitious undertaking for global peace and prosperity since the formation of the United Nations. Achieving the goals requires that the UN system work together within and across countries like never before.

“I can tell you, perseverance pays,” says Bernadette Gomina, who ran unsuccessfully for the legislature in 2005 and 2010. She was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2020. “[Women parliamentarians] face issues at many levels: [lack of] finances, discriminatory behaviours and mindsets, but us women … we have our part to play; we must change our mindsets and get to work, together, to change this situation.” 

It is a sunny day on the Nakai Plateau in central Lao People’s Democratic Republic, or Lao PDR. Noi has just returned from the market, where she bought a new shirt for her 3-year-old son, Seng. Seng has grown much taller in the two years since Noi left for Thailand in search of better wages.