The target of literacy promotion initiatives is the actualization of the 4th Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
When people are literate and rightly educated, the society is assured of its sustainability.
In its integral sense, when uncorrupted, education imparts the fundamental societal values of justice, dignity, mutual acceptance and inclusion which are indispensable for peaceful living.
For over 20 years, the annual World Sight Day, marked on 12th October this year, has been a tool for raising awareness of the wider nature of visual impairment, and prevention of sight problems. This advocacy is crucial as 90% of vision loss is avoidable and correctable if attended early enough.
Mental health is key to the life of the society. It is a prerequisite for physical health. Left untreated, mental health disorders and problems hinder people from relating meaningfully and retards their abilities for productive work as it hampers creativity and concentration in the work.
The elderly, according to the United Nations are among the fastest growing population, even more than that of children from 0 to 5 years of age. According to World Health Organization factsheets, in 2018 it was recorded for the first time in history that people aged 65 and above outnumbered children aged 0 to 5 years. While global healthcare adapts itself to cater for the fast-growing elderly population, society too needs to adapt to the same.
Car-Free Days are days when people do not drive private vehicles to allow cities to be free of congestion and noise and to give people a chance to walk and cycle freely. It is an incentive to cut down emissions which negatively impact health and disrupt ecosystems and the biodiversity of the planet Earth. Rwanda is an examplary country in Africa in this regard.