Top news Destructive pathway: COVID-19 infections in Africa are increasing at their fastest rate ever, with over 1 million confirmed cases recorded in the past month alone. The situation in at least 18 African countries is dire, as chronic shortages of vaccines leave millions exposed to the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant. With only 1.4% of the continent’s population fully vaccinated, daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths have more than doubled in the past month and are currently sitting just...
As COVID-19 spreads across low- and middle-income countries, billions of people are vulnerable to variants that could resist vaccines and put the world back at square one in tackling this pandemic. So why isn’t the vaccine already available to everyone, everywhere? It comes down to supply and distribution. Rich countries have bought up the majority of the supply and are hoarding even what they don’t need. Meanwhile, low- and middle-income countries are struggling to roll out the doses they do...
Top news Fallout of COVID-19 pandemic causes spike in world hunger Critical juncture: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic worsening of world hunger – in 2020, just under 10% of the global population was undernourished, up from 8.4% in 2019. A UN report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world found that Africa saw the sharpest rise – at 21% of the population, Africa’s rate of undernourishment is more than double that of any other region...
Rasna Warah is a Kenyan writer and journalist who is working with the ONE Campaign’s COVID-19 Aftershocks project. EU countries will issue a COVID-19 vaccine certificate that excludes key vaccines distributed through the COVAX facility – which is financed by many of the same countries – placing Africans at a unique disadvantage. Africans who have expressed concern over the extremely stringent and punitive visa application procedures of EU countries now have to contend with another barrier to their entry to Europe....
COVID-19 has certainly had a negative effect on the African economy but is not responsible for all the economic challenges faced on the continent. Even though Africa’s economy has been affected by the pandemic, the continent has fared well due to the urgent preventative steps taken by individual governments to avoid the advanced spread and effects of COVID-19. But with the COVID-19 crisis, Africa has experienced an unprecedented economic shock. Despite the efforts made by the governments to support their...
This guest blog was written by ONE Youth Ambassador Veerle Blokhuis. The coronavirus has brought about a lot of change in the world. The various measures deployed worldwide to combat the pandemic have had a major impact on our daily lives, from many workers losing part, or all, of their income to children no longer being able to go to school. In African countries, however, these impacts are even more severe. On the continent, lower incomes and less education have led...
African countries are facing a third wave of COVID-19 infections which threatens to be even more brutal than the two that came before. Across Africa, between June and July, cases rose by nearly 200%. The continent just exceeded its worst-ever week in the pandemic, and the WHO has warned that cases are now doubling every three weeks. Over a dozen countries have already reported their highest rate of infections since the start of the pandemic, with over 700,000 confirmed...
Rasna Warah is a Kenyan writer and journalist who is working with the ONE Campaign’s COVID-19 Aftershocks project. Tanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is slowly reversing the COVID-19 policies of her predecessor, the late John Magufuli, who infamously declared that the coronavirus had been defeated in the country. He banned the publication of official data and reports on the disease, even as doctors privately reported a rise in the number of patients with COVID symptoms dying in hospitals. Despite being...
Rasna Warah is a Kenyan writer and journalist who is working with the ONE Campaign’s COVID-19 Aftershocks project. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a “shadow pandemic” across the globe: domestic violence cases have risen dramatically since pandemic-induced lockdowns and school closures last year, and women and girls are at greater risk of sexual abuse. According to a UN Women report, reports of domestic violence increased by 30% in France in the first few weeks of the start of the pandemic. In...
Top news COVID isn’t sexist, but the Aftershocks are… Disproportionate: COVID-19 has killed more men than women, but the pandemic has hit women and girls harder. For a start, they are losing their livelihoods faster because they are more likely to work in hard-hit economic sectors such as hospitality, with the UN estimating that women’s employment is 19% more at risk compared to men. Shadow pandemic: Nearly one in three women worldwide have been subjected to physical or sexual violence. Experts warn...