How can the sustainable development goals improve the lives of people affected by conflict?

摘要

One and a half billion people live in conflict-affected and fragile states. At the last estimate in 2012, 172 million people were directly affected by war, including refugees, internally displaced people and those who were affected but did not flee. ^{1 , 2} Children are twice as likely to be malnourished and twice as likely to die by the age of five years in low-income countries affected by conflict compared with similar but stable countries. Their families are twice as likely to live without clean water. ³ Conflict does more than short-term damage; it decimates a country’s infrastructure and impairs the social contract between the state and citizens. Food supplies are disrupted; health services collapse. Pregnant women and people who are ill do not receive the life-saving services they need. ⁴ Less often measured are the long-term consequences of conflict on people’s mental health and social functioning.