The COVID-19 pandemic is a humanitarian as well as a development crisis. The measures taken to contain the virus have shown some successes, but they have devastated economies, healthcare access, and schooling. Millions are newly unemployed, hitting the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. Health services are looking for new ways to reach those in need and who can no longer afford to see a doctor. Children are forced to attend school remotely, threatening their long-term education and their social wellbeing.
As countries respond to the crisis, frontier digital technologies are unlocking new possibilities to recover better and to put countries back on track to achieve the SDGs. The latest edition of UN DESA’s Frontier Technology Issues (FTI) shows how technologies are being used to create decent work (SDG 8), improve health services and outcomes (SDG 3), and promote education and learning (SDG 4).
Digital technologies are allowing remote work, tele-medicine, and virtual learning around the world. 3D printing is helping more firms participate in manufacturing. Commodity devices are bringing health services to the most distant locations. Algorithms are helping to tailor educational content to students anywhere in the world.
The FTI warns that technology is widening inequalities as individuals on the wrong side of the digital divide risk being left further behind. The most vulnerable to the effects of the virus also have less access to digital connectivity and technologies.
To remedy this situation, policies must promote technologies and maximize their employment effects. Governments can deploy technology to enable new models of health delivery that focus on health outcomes. In education, remote education using appropriate technologies must be integrated into traditional education systems with an eye to the future. National and global partners must work to narrow the digital divide. To achieve the SDGs, national and global partners must work to make the promise of technologies a reality for all.
Access the new Frontier Technology Issue “Can digital technologies put us back on the path to achieve the SDGs?” and other editions here.