Top news Squeezing the middle: The global middle class shrank by 150 million people in 2020 as the pandemic ravaged the global economy, the first decline in nearly three decades. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were hit the hardest. 1 in 3 Nigerians is out of work and the number of fully employed has decreased by half since 2015, a trend exacerbated by the pandemic. One-third of employed Nigerians live in extreme poverty, according to ONE’s Employment Dashboard. Temporary infusion? The...
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 here, and read on for ONE’s updated COVID-19 Tracker, who’s taking over the US global pandemic response efforts, and the world’s economic outlook. Top news Torn in two: The IMF projects a stronger recovery for the global economy compared to its January forecast, with growth expected to be 6% in 2021. Upward revisions are mainly due...
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 here, and read on for COVID’s impact on education, new data on how Nigeria’s remittances have tanked, and what’s next for Tanzania. And our new series Pandemica launches this week. It’s a preview of what’s to come if rich countries keep hoarding vaccines. Top news Truly depleted: African finance ministers met on Monday, agreeing that “our...
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 here, and read on for more on Nigeria’s unemployment crisis, upcoming G7 and African finance ministers meetings, and the latest poverty figures. But first, with Tanzania’s president passing, what’s next for the country? Top news RIP Magufuli: Tanzanian President John Magufuli passed after a short illness this week at age 61. Some outlets are reporting his...
Top news 100,000 African health workers: have been infected with COVID as of this week, citing a lack of PPE and over-work. A year into the pandemic, cases on the continent are about to hit 4 million, according to WHO Africa. Test positivity is greater than 10% in Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zambia with a 3% increase across the continent. Relief! This week US President Joe Biden will sign into law an historic $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The OECD...
h2>Top news Debt donut: ONE’s new debt donut shows that 80% debt service payments from poorer countries have not been suspended, despite warm words from the G20. In 2021, we expect countries eligible for the Debt Service Suspension Initiative will have $6.8 billion of payments rescheduled until later. But they will still have to pay $36.1 billion to bilateral creditors, multilateral institutions, and private creditors this year. African countries eligible for relief will still have to pay $19.8 billion. G20...
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 here, and read on for more on COVID’s impact on food security in Africa. But first, what to look for at this week’s G7 meeting. Top news War-time footing: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, new Italian Prime Minister and G20 Chair Mario Draghi, and US President Joe Biden have all said we are at war with...
Celestina Obiekea is a ONE Champion alumni and consultant with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Celestina Obiekea has seen first hand the impacts of COVID-19, working as the laboratory network advisor at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. She wants all Nigerians to know the pandemic is real: “While a lot of people will likely get infected and recover without even so much as a headache, there’s no magic wand to tell who will survive and who will not, and at...
The ONE Campaign and 10 major African artists have come together to release a music track calling for the world to join in solidarity to fight COVID-19. In partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and MTV Base, “Stand Together” is a solidarity anthem featuring some of Africa’s biggest music stars: 2Baba, Ahmed Soultan, Ben Pol, Teni, Yemi Alade, Amanda Black, Stanley Enow, Gigi La Mayne, Prodigio and Betty G. The song has been produced by Nigerian producer Cobhams Asuquo and the...