Poor, war-torn countries are the worst affected in this pandemic
4 years, 6 months ago

Poor, war-torn countries are the worst affected in this pandemic

Deccan Chronicle  

Cape Town: For months, experts have warned of a potential nightmare scenario: After overwhelming health systems in some of the world’s wealthiest regions, the coronavirus gains a foothold in poor or war-torn countries ill-equipped to contain it and sweeps through the population. “Whenever you have countries that are economically not as well off as others, then they will be adversely affected.” Global health experts say testing is key, but months into the pandemic, few developing countries can keep carrying out the tens of thousands of tests every week that are needed to detect and contain outbreaks. Venter said a Cape Town-like surge could easily play out next in “the big cities of Nigeria, Congo, Kenya,” and they “do not have the health resources that we do.” Lockdowns are likely the most effective safeguard, but they have exacted a heavy toll even on middle-class families in Europe and North America, and are economically devastating in developing countries. The government has since set up quarantine facilities and now provides special rail service to get people home safely, but there are concerns the migration has already spread the virus to India’s rural areas, where the health infrastructure is even weaker.

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History of this topic

Biden administration partners with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics
8 months, 3 weeks ago

Biden administration partners with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics

LA Times  

President Biden’s administration is launching a program that will help 50 countries, most of them in Africa and Asia, identify and respond to infectious diseases. President Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020. The Global …

Many countries are bouncing back from the pandemic but the poorest are not, UN says
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Many countries are bouncing back from the pandemic but the poorest are not, UN says

Associated Press  

UNITED NATIONS — Many countries are bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the poorest are not and a significant number are seeing their conditions deteriorate, the U.N. Development Program said Wednesday. “It’s a rich person’s versus a poor person’s world in which we are seeing development unfolding in very unequal, partially incomplete ways,” Steiner said at a news conference. …

NRC: World’s 10 ‘most neglected’ refugee crises all in Africa
2 years, 7 months ago

NRC: World’s 10 ‘most neglected’ refugee crises all in Africa

Al Jazeera  

In DR Congo, the most-neglected country on the list for the second year running, a third of the population went hungry last year. “With the all-absorbing war in Europe’s Ukraine, I fear African suffering will be pushed further into the shadows,” the aid group’s chief Jan Egeland said in a statement published Wednesday. In the DRC, the most-neglected country on …

COVID: Too soon to say the worst of the pandemic is behind us
2 years, 8 months ago

COVID: Too soon to say the worst of the pandemic is behind us

The Hindu  

WITH the war in the Ukraine grabbing most of the headlines, the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly ceased to be the number one news item at the global level as it had been for a lengthy period of time until recently. The World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published on April 12 states: “uring the week of 4 through 10 …

Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster
3 years, 1 month ago

Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster

Associated Press  

HARARE, Zimbabwe — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. “The police demand bribes so I lose money if I don’t move around with a …

COVID-19’s global death toll tops 5 million
3 years, 2 months ago

COVID-19’s global death toll tops 5 million

LA Times  

Relatives of Luis Enrique Rodriguez, who died of COVID-19, visit his burial site on a hill north of Bogotá, Colombia. The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate healthcare systems. “What’s uniquely different about this pandemic is …

Pandemic has affected poor more: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
3 years, 3 months ago

Pandemic has affected poor more: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

Deccan Chronicle  

Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the Covid-19 pandemic has severely dented inclusivity across countries. In the medium to long-run, both efficiency and equity will greatly matter for sustainable growth and macroeconomic performance.” The impact of pandemics could be a lot more asymmetric by affecting the vulnerable segments more. Overall, there are evidences across countries …

As rich-poor divide widens between nations, UN urges reform
3 years, 3 months ago

As rich-poor divide widens between nations, UN urges reform

Al Jazeera  

Developing countries could shoulder most of the cost of the coronavirus crisis, a new report from the UN warns. “The danger of a lost decade ahead remains a very real one,” Richard Kozul-Wright, UNCTAD’s director of globalisation and development strategies, told Al Jazeera. “And so far, the discussion of reform of the multilateral system, along the lines that followed the …

Charity alone will not end the calamity of COVID-19 in Africa
3 years, 5 months ago

Charity alone will not end the calamity of COVID-19 in Africa

Al Jazeera  

In the absence of vaccines, accountability, rather than charity, may be the continent’s best route out of the pandemic. Just in the past week, in an article published in Nature, Dr Mosoka Fallah, deputy director for technical services in the National Public Health Institute of Liberia, said “mass fatalities from COVID-19 have begun in Africa” and “the wealthy world must …

Wealthy nations ease restrictions as COVID-19 deaths cross 4 million mark: WHO
3 years, 6 months ago

Wealthy nations ease restrictions as COVID-19 deaths cross 4 million mark: WHO

Firstpost  

As richer countries focus on getting back to normality, encouraging tourism, many outbreaks are hitting the poorer nations. More than four million people have now died from Covid-19, the WHO said on Wednesday, as many rich nations prepare to loosen restrictions even as countries in Asia battle surging infections. “The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic,” said …

WHO, at heart of world’s sluggish Covid response, could face shake-up
3 years, 7 months ago

WHO, at heart of world’s sluggish Covid response, could face shake-up

Live Mint  

The World Health Organization, at the heart of the world's sluggish handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, faces a potential shake-up to prevent future outbreaks as a top official warned that "the pathogens have the upper hand". Health ministers from WHO's 194 member states will also meet from Nov. 29 to decide whether to launch negotiations on an international treaty aimed …

Coronavirus pandemic severe, but ‘not necessarily the big one’: WHO
4 years ago

Coronavirus pandemic severe, but ‘not necessarily the big one’: WHO

Hindustan Times  

The novel coronavirus has had a devastating impact around the globe, but the World Health Organization warned Monday that worse pandemics could lie ahead, urging the world to get “serious” about preparedness. “This is a wakeup call,” WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan told reporters at a briefing marking a year since the UN agency first learned of the new virus …

Covid, pandemic and lockdown: How 2020 changed the world
4 years ago

Covid, pandemic and lockdown: How 2020 changed the world

Live Mint  

When the world celebrated the dawn of a new decade with a blaze of firework parties and revelry on January 1, few could have imagined what 2020 had in store. "This is a pandemic experience that's unique in the lifetime of every single person on Earth," says Sten Vermund, infectious disease epidemiologist and dean of Yale School of Public Health. …

A pandemic atlas: How COVID-19 took over the world in 2020
4 years ago

A pandemic atlas: How COVID-19 took over the world in 2020

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Go deeper: Early success, growing …

The pandemic could push 49 million Africans into extreme poverty. Here’s how other countries can help (opinion)
4 years, 2 months ago

The pandemic could push 49 million Africans into extreme poverty. Here’s how other countries can help (opinion)

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Tony Blair was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Unfortunately, despite lower case numbers and, in many cases, tighter control measures than other countries on European or UK safe fly lists, African countries have paid the price of disconnection from the rest of the world, with the majority of its population being unfairly treated …

At UN, Africa urges fiscal help against virus 'apocalypse'
4 years, 3 months ago

At UN, Africa urges fiscal help against virus 'apocalypse'

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy African nations came out swinging …

As US struggles, Africa’s COVID-19 response is praised
4 years, 3 months ago

As US struggles, Africa’s COVID-19 response is praised

Associated Press  

JOHANNESBURG — At a lecture to peers this month, John Nkengasong showed images that once dogged Africa, with a magazine cover declaring it “The Hopeless Continent.” Then he quoted Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah: “It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity.” The coronavirus pandemic …

COVID-19 could fuel more conflict, poverty, starvation, says UN
4 years, 4 months ago

COVID-19 could fuel more conflict, poverty, starvation, says UN

The Hindu  

Top UN officials have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated discrimination and other human rights violations that can fuel conflict, and its indirect consequences are dwarfing the impact of the virus itself in the world’s most fragile countries. Mr. Lowcock warned the council that the indirect economic and health effects from the crisis in fragile countries “will be higher …

Opinion: Covid-19 has scarred the global economy, but it’s not too late to change course
4 years, 4 months ago

Opinion: Covid-19 has scarred the global economy, but it’s not too late to change course

CNN  

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in its entirety in the International Monetary Fund’s fall 2020 issue of Finance & Development Magazine. And this means it goes disproportionately after the poor, especially in poor countries and in advanced economies like the United States where access to health care is not guaranteed. There are many reasons for these differences: the …

‘Our hands are tied': Local aid workers exposed in pandemic
4 years, 4 months ago

‘Our hands are tied': Local aid workers exposed in pandemic

Associated Press  

JOHANNESBURG — The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid for countries in crisis: Most money that flows from the U.S. and other donors goes to international aid groups instead of local ones. She asserted that $100,000 could help over 10,000 people, while the same amount to an international group will only pay …

COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate conflict, humanitarian crises: WHO
4 years, 5 months ago

COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate conflict, humanitarian crises: WHO

India TV News  

COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate many issues the world is facing, such as years of conflict and other humanitarian crises, the chief of the World Health Organization has warned, while calling for continuity of essential health services. Although Covid-19 has rightly captured the world's attention, many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East, are still reeling from years of conflict …

Too many countries heading in wrong direction; COVID-19 getting 'worse and worse': WHO warns
4 years, 5 months ago

Too many countries heading in wrong direction; COVID-19 getting 'worse and worse': WHO warns

India TV News  

With the rising number of coronavirus cases worldwide, the World Health Organization on Monday warned that the pandemic has the potential to get far worse if all nations do not adhere to basic healthcare precautions. In a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said too many countries are heading in the wrong direction and …

Coronavirus crisis may get worse, worse and worse, WHO warns
4 years, 5 months ago

Coronavirus crisis may get worse, worse and worse, WHO warns

India Today  

The new coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe will worsen if countries fail to adhere to strict healthcare precautions, the World Health Organization warned on Monday. “Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction, the virus remains public enemy number one,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from the UN agency’s headquarters …

June 17, 2020 coronavirus news
4 years, 6 months ago

June 17, 2020 coronavirus news

CNN  

Health officials from various nations met in a World Health Organization webinar on Wednesday to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on fights against neglected tropical disease around the world. “In Rwanda, like many other countries in the world, we are fighting one enemy which is Covid-19 but other health essential programs may be also important to watch and follow so …

Guterres: African countries may be spared worst of the pandemic
4 years, 7 months ago

Guterres: African countries may be spared worst of the pandemic

Al Jazeera  

UN chief praises continent for responding swiftly but says millions could be pushed into extreme poverty. The relatively low number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa has “raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic”, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, while praising the continent for responding swiftly to the pandemic. “African countries should also …

African leaders say coronavirus aid falling short: Live updates
4 years, 7 months ago

African leaders say coronavirus aid falling short: Live updates

Al Jazeera  

The presidents of Kenya, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Niger say wealthy countries have failed the continent. 🧵on key resources re: the order's unlawfulness: https://t.co/jnLgHNDS4E — Charanya Krishnaswami May 19, 2020 20:50 GMT – Trump says considering travel ban on Brazil US President Donald Trump has said he is considering imposing a ban on travel from Brazil, which has …

COVID-19's impact on poverty alleviation efforts being addressed
4 years, 7 months ago

COVID-19's impact on poverty alleviation efforts being addressed

China Daily  

A woman of Lahu ethnic group picks tea leaves at Bulangshan township in Menghai county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, April 11, 2020. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic exerting some impact on the country's poverty alleviation efforts, China will address the challenges and prevent the reoccurrence of poverty to those who have been lifted out of destitution, a senior official said. Liu …

The economic devastation wrought by the pandemic could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself
4 years, 7 months ago

The economic devastation wrought by the pandemic could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself

LA Times  

It seemed like Silvanah Lima was finally getting ahead. “I haven’t even been able to buy beans.” The economic devastation the pandemic wreaks on the ultra-poor could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself. “I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe,” said David Beasley, executive director …

COVID-19 pandemic worse than 2008-09 financial crisis: IMF
4 years, 8 months ago

COVID-19 pandemic worse than 2008-09 financial crisis: IMF

The Hindu  

The contraction in the global economy is much worse than the 2008-09 financial crisis, a top IMF official said on April 15, urging the governments to take swift concerted action with fiscal tools taking a prime role to contain the COVID-19 spread and limit the damage to livelihoods. As such, there is no doubt that the government needs to take …

‘No country will be spared’ in sub-Saharan Africa: IMF
4 years, 8 months ago

‘No country will be spared’ in sub-Saharan Africa: IMF

Al Jazeera  

Region, already hit hard by coronavirus lockdowns and drop in oil prices, braces for a health crisis with few resources. Sub-Saharan Africa is facing an unprecedented health crisis from the coronavirus pandemic and a severe economic downturn that could drag on economies for years to come, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, warning: “No country will be spared.” “It …

The UK will lead the global coronavirus response to end this pandemic sooner
4 years, 8 months ago

The UK will lead the global coronavirus response to end this pandemic sooner

The Independent  

As we applaud our NHS heroes at 8pm every Thursday, I am proud to see our country pull together like never before in my lifetime. We can’t end this global pandemic or prevent even more deaths, including in the UK, if we don’t help those countries respond to the virus and its impacts. £130m of this support will go towards …

Coronavirus the biggest humanitarian disaster since WWII: Red Cross
4 years, 9 months ago

Coronavirus the biggest humanitarian disaster since WWII: Red Cross

NL Times  

The global coronavirus outbreak is heading towards the biggest humanitarian disaster since the Second World War, the Red Cross fears. "The Covid-19 pandemic is a crisis on a scale that we don't know yet," Robert Mardini, head of the International Red Cross, said to RTL Nieuws. According to Frido Herinckx, who coordinates global relief efforts for the International Red Cross, …

Aid Groups Say They've Never Faced A Challenge Like The Novel Coronavirus
4 years, 9 months ago

Aid Groups Say They've Never Faced A Challenge Like The Novel Coronavirus

NPR  

Aid Groups Say They've Never Faced A Challenge Like The Novel Coronavirus Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexis Huget/AFP via Getty Images Alexis Huget/AFP via Getty Images Humanitarian groups say they've never had to face a challenge like the novel coronavirus. "We've never had to respond to a crisis that has simultaneously impacted every single office that we run in …

COVID-19 worst crisis since World War II, says U.N. chief
4 years, 9 months ago

COVID-19 worst crisis since World War II, says U.N. chief

The Hindu  

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world faces the most challenging crisis since World War II, confronting a pandemic threatening people in every country, one that will bring a recession “that probably has no parallel in the recent past.” There is also a risk that the combination of the disease and its economic impact will contribute to …

The world's most vulnerable countries could become the next coronavirus hotspots
4 years, 9 months ago

The world's most vulnerable countries could become the next coronavirus hotspots

ABC  

As coronavirus spreads around the globe, health experts and aid groups fear some of the world's most vulnerable countries could become new hotspots for COVID-19. "This data shows a stark and chilling picture of what we can expect as we start to see the COVID-19 pandemic spread to many Africa and Middle Eastern countries," said Sally Austin, CARE International's head …

Anxiety looms large for low-income countries as pandemic threat grows
4 years, 9 months ago

Anxiety looms large for low-income countries as pandemic threat grows

Deccan Chronicle  

Paris: As Europe and the United States struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, aid groups warn that without measures millions could die in low-income countries and war zones such as Syria and Yemen, where hygiene conditions are already dire. Misty Buswell from the IRC said areas like the last rebel-held province in war-torn Syria, Idlib, which was already enduring a …

COVID-19: Africa told to prepare for worst. What’s the response?
4 years, 9 months ago

COVID-19: Africa told to prepare for worst. What’s the response?

Al Jazeera  

Countries across continent take drastic steps to fight coronavirus amid warnings number of infections is likely higher. But Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday that the number of cases in the continent was likely higher and urged African countries to “wake up” to the increasing threat. The government in Harare on Tuesday …

Africa has the world's most under-reported humanitarian crises — but why are we turning a blind eye?
4 years, 11 months ago

Africa has the world's most under-reported humanitarian crises — but why are we turning a blind eye?

ABC  

Water is something that many of us in developed countries take for granted, but for some in parts of Africa, it could mean the difference between eating or not, and, ultimately — life or death. Key points: Madagascar was the least-reported major humanitarian crisis of 2019, an aid report finds Ten of the most under-reported crises are located in Africa, …

World facing ‘acute risk of devastating disease pandemics’ which would kill millions, WHO warns
5 years, 3 months ago

World facing ‘acute risk of devastating disease pandemics’ which would kill millions, WHO warns

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, a new body assembled by the World Bank and the …

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