The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted its annual Goalkeepers event in New York City. The two-day gathering is both an awards show and a conference to highlight how much the world has progressed on the 17-Sustainable Development Goals that 193 nations committed to achieving by 2030. CGTN’s Karina Huber reports.

The Goalkeepers event kicked off in New York with an award show highlighting people who are working to tackle issues contributing to global inequity.

They included Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for his work on improving sanitation in India as well as Tunisian youth activist, Aya Chebbi.

“I’d like to dedicate this award to African youth who are the every day campaigners on the front line,” she said.

The Goalkeepers event is when the Gates Foundation, which invests heavily in health and education, provides a data-driven report card on progress made towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

“The world is getting better even in the very toughest places,” said Bill Gates, Co-Founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

Gates says strides in health and education have been made in almost every country, but the gap in the quality of both remains large among different nations.

More children die in Chad every day than in Finland in an entire year.

“Where you are born is more predictive of your future than any other factor,” said Gates. “Everyone has different dreams but these basic needs like health and education give everyone a chance to achieve those dreams and you’re goalkeepers because you dream of this better more equal world.”

Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand says to achieve these goals, a change in thinking about development is needed – one that puts sustainable well-being at the heart of the agenda.

“We’ve decided it’s no longer enough to ask what will drive economic growth. Now the question that we as politicians are asking is what will do the most to improve both the lives of New Zealanders now, but also in the future,” she said.

At a time when nationalism is rising around the world, Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s Prime Minister stressed the importance of nations working together to achieve sustainable development goals or SDGs.

“I firmly believe that multilateralism, dialogue and understanding are the only tools we have to tackle these difficult and complex issues,” he said.

The Gates Foundation agrees. That’s why it has teamed up with organizations around the world to both track progress being made and invest in projects that are working.

The deadline to achieve the SDGs is fast approaching. It’s just 11 years away. A lot more still needs to be done. The Gates Foundation hopes that through data it can pinpoint the areas in the world that need the most attention to make the biggest difference.