A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week: a weak G7 summit outcome, a growing global learning crisis, and more.  Gentleman’s agreement: G7 (all male) leaders failed to deliver the ambitious commitments needed to adequately address the converging global crisis of conflict, food insecurity, climate change, and COVID-19 at this year’s G7 summit. Only nine of the summit’s 34 commitments are time bound...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week G7 leaders meet in Germany to address the converging crises of COVID-19, climate change, and conflict. Spoiler alert: You can’t deal with one while ignoring the others.  Top news Marshalling plans: G7 leaders have signalled their long-term support to Ukraine, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressing hope that progress can be made against Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian...
Top news Dire states: The World Food Programme has further limited assistance to South Sudan due to funding shortages after rations were already halved in 2021. The reduction will leave an estimated 1.7 million people facing acute food insecurity without support. A combination of drought, conflict, and increased food prices stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine has left over 60% of South Sudan’s population facing severe hunger. Running on empty: Somalia’s worst drought in 40 years has killed more than 3 million herd animals in the past year, and pushed 386,400 children to...
Top news Must read from ONE: Did you know solving global hunger could cost half of what we spend on pet food? To understand the impacts, drivers and solutions to the food crisis check out our new data dive. A 5 Point Plan to End the Pandemic: We got fed up waiting for world leaders to come up with a plan to end the pandemic. So we wrote our own. Read it here. Getting worse: The World Bank slashed its economic growth projections and cautioned that things could get...
Top news Feeling charitable: Pfizer will provide patents on a not-for-profit basis for new and existing medicines and vaccines available in the US or EU to 45 lower-income countries. Rwanda, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda are first in line to join the “Accord for a Healthier World”, announced at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. The accord currently includes 23 medicines and vaccines that treat infectious diseases, some cancers, as well as rare and inflammatory diseases. It’s a...
Top news Breaking news (and norms): The IMF endorsed the creation of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust as a new mechanism to recycle its emergency pandemic-recovery funds, or Special Drawing Rights. This landmark innovation should enable low-income countries to access much-needed cash to help mitigate the economic impacts of COVID-19 (and now the war in Ukraine). But there’s a big “if”: Rich countries need to contribute SDRs to the trust. The IMF is hoping to raise at least $45 billion. African leaders have...
In 2020, global health has gone from a fringe issue to the forefront of people’s mind, all thanks to COVID-19. The last time the entire world came close to being as focused on a pandemic threat was over two decades ago, when HIV/AIDS was killing almost 4,000 people every day and new infections doubled year after year. Since then, the global response to AIDS has become a success story, and AIDS-related deaths have been cut by more than half. Today,...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. View our data tracker and sign up for our weekly newsletter. This week: the future of African vaccine manufacturing, “horrific” food choices, and more. Top stories Must read from ONE: Nearly all vaccines administered in Africa are manufactured elsewhere, presenting both a risk and opportunity for the continent. Unequal distribution of vaccine production sites coincides with inequitable access to vaccines. Scaling up African vaccine manufacturing capacity...