3 February 2021, Hiroshima, Japan - Among the many lessons gleaned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that our previous lives were neither environmentally nor economically sustainable. If we are to build an equitable and sustainable future, one that limits, if not eradicates, the potential for a similar crisis and ensures viable livelihoods for even the most vulnerable among us, we need not look farther than the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provides a valuable blueprint on which to build a post-pandemic world. 

This was the heart of the message shared by Mihoko Kumamoto, Director of UNITAR Division of Prosperity, with medical students at Hiroshima University,  as part of the university’s Aiming for Eternal Peace lecture series. The series brings together speakers from within and outside the university to explore the intersection of sustainability and peace. It helps students gain a broader perspective of international affairs to marry their medical expertise with a global perspective. The talk was presented virtually to more than 90 of the university’s students.

Kumamoto pointed out that, as future medical professionals, the students will be on the frontlines in dealing with the myriad of health issues – physical and psychological – resulting from the current pandemic.

“COVID-19, coupled with exponential environmental destruction caused by the climate crisis, an ever-deepening poverty chasm, and increasing conflict and migration, is reversing many of the gains achieved through the last 20 years,” noted Kumamoto. “As a result, we’re seeing more people fall below the poverty line, children from all walks of life losing valuable educational and socialization opportunities, increased gender-based violence, and already hard-hit vulnerable populations struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds. All of these factors will result in an increasingly stressed health system both here in Japan and abroad.”