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Bounce back bias: Low-income countries’ GDP would have been more than 5% higher in 2021 if they had been able to access vaccines at the same rates as high-income countries. The vaccination of one additional person out of every 100 would have boosted global GDP by 0.10%, according to modeling by the UNDP. While the COVID-19 vaccines have helped high-income countries economically, the growth outlook for low-income countries continues to trend downwards and is 10 times lower than that of upper-middle-income countries.
History...
Aftershocks
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Desperate need: South Sudan is experiencing the worst refugee crisis in Africa. Triggered by floods, famine, and political violence, 2 million people have been displaced and 2.3 million people are currently refugees. 8.9 million people are in “desperate need” of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the $10 million in aid and 80,000 bags of rice intended for those who need it have instead been “looted” by political elites, according to a UN official. Rape and sexual violence are being used as “spoils...
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, war in Ethiopia has killed an estimated half a million people, global food aid supplies dwindle, Russia seeks to counter NATO through African alliances, and a provisional TRIPs deal has entered the chat.
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Knocking on famine’s door: Half a million people have died in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia since the war started...
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Looming food crisis: Russia’s war against Ukraine is causing daily human tragedy inside the country. Experts warn that the war could soon have devastating impacts in far away places due to rising food prices and shortages. The World Food Programme, which gets half of the wheat it distributes in humanitarian crises from Ukraine, may need to find other suppliers. 44 million people globally are on the brink of famine and an additional 232 million are just one step behind. And...
The recent military coup in Burkina Faso that toppled President Roch Kaboré highlights a disturbing trend in African politics: a resurgence of unconstitutional means to bring about regime change since the start of the pandemic. In the past two years, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Sudan have all seen military takeovers. And Niger had an unsuccessful coup attempt.
In Sudan, a popular people-driven revolution led to the ouster of military dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. However, the military has undermined the power-sharing...
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, and read on for the implications of Russia’s war on Ukraine for Africa and the COVID response. From food and oil prices to refugees, racial bias, and diverted attention of leaders, the effects will ripple across African countries.
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Non-linear: Russia’s devastating war against Ukraine is a watershed moment. As we watch the bravery of...
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, how war in Ukraine could impact world food prices and Tanzania’s gas trade, the suspension of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, and a recap of the AU-EU Summit..
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Of war and wheat: Russia’s attack on Ukraine, a major grain exporter, could have a ricochet effect on food prices in low-income countries – adding layers of concern to the already...
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Face saving or life-saving?: BioNTech announced the launch of not-for-profit (aka at-cost), movable vaccine factories to scale up mRNA vaccine production in Africa and other regions with low vaccine rates. The modules, enclosed in shipping containers and described as a “turnkey solution,” are capable of producing up to 50 million vaccines per year. The first units will be shipped to Rwanda and Senegal (and possibly South Africa), with a fill-and-finish role for Ghana. Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo welcomed the news, thanking “BioNTech and...
February 14, 2022 marks the two-year anniversary of the first case of COVID-19 in Africa. Despite the several pandemic-related lockdowns and economically disruptive restrictions that have been imposed across Africa to stop the spread of the virus, we are still nowhere close to ending the pandemic.
What’s even more alarming is the number of healthcare workers who have been immigrating. Around 1,000 workers move to the United States each month from African countries, the Philippines, and the Caribbean. In Africa,...
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, up to 80% of South Africans have had COVID-19, eye-popping levels of healthcare waste, and a mental health crisis born of the pandemic.
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Don’t know, can’t tell: South Africa has scrapped quarantine for asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and cut quarantine times to seven days for symptomatic cases. That policy change stemmed from new...