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...
With more than 107 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, more contagious strains evolving at an alarming speed from the UK to Brazil, and recent shortages of vaccines supplies, we are now at a tipping point in the fight against COVID-19. The only one way out of this pandemic is to get vaccines, tests, and treatments to every corner of the planet. Simply vaccinating European citizens won’t work. If vaccines are not available to everyone, everywhere, more resistant variants could develop and...
This pandemic has been as devastating to lives and livelihoods as any war. And yet the world has failed to mobilize the money, the tools, and the political leadership we would muster if we faced a world-wide conflict. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, the impact is stunning: it has claimed almost 2.5 million lives, shattering families and communities, and left huge holes in the lives of many millions more. The virus has infected almost 110 million...
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 a primer on COVAX and what to look for at this week’s G7 meeting. But first, how to avert a lost decade for African development. Top news Lost decade: COVID is set to cost the global economy on average $1 billion a day over the next six years, according to the...
COVID-19 is threatening to wipe out decades of economic progress and development gains. Sub-Saharan Africa fell into recession for the first time in 25 years in 2020, with economic growth contracting by 3%, the worst on record. For many countries, a return to 2019 economic growth levels will not occur until 2022–24. Alarmingly, the pandemic will push up between 88 and 115 million people into extreme poverty — those living under US$1.90 a day — around the globe, reversing the...
The OECD DAC, which tracks official development assistance (ODA) spending, has released the latest global aid figures. Due to a lag in reporting and analysis, these only cover through the end of 2019, but they paint a grim picture for what development assistance looked like in the lead up to the global pandemic. While overall global aid totalled US$151.7 billion, aid fell far short of commitments, and what’s more, development assistance to Africa and the most vulnerable countries declined. The top...
A roundup of the latest news, stats, and analysis of COVID-19’s impact in Africa. Read on for more about which country has reached 1 million cases and Tanzania’s continued pandemic silence. But first, how to prevent a vaccine apartheid. Top news Catastrophic moral failure: UNAIDS Director Winnie Byanyima recently called out the emerging ‘“Vaccine Apartheid” as rich countries hoard vaccine supplies. WHO Director General Tedros said “We are on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure.” The Economic Intelligence Unit predicts...
Fighting a pandemic and its economic aftershocks requires enormous amounts of money. In higher income countries, governments have stepped forward with trillions in economic stimulus packages. But the majority of developing countries do not have the money to cover the full costs of this pandemic. Suspending debt service payments is one of the fastest, most effective means of freeing up cash in developing country budgets. The Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), a G20 agreement to suspend debt service payments for...
This year, in the face of a global pandemic, the fight against global poverty and inequality became tougher, but more important than ever. Our tireless activists fought for fair deals on debt, vaccine access, aid budgets, and more. Hundreds of thousands of global activists signed petitions, completed surveys, tweeted at or sent emails to politicians, attended briefing calls, shared messages of solidarity, or danced to our anthem “Stand Together.” Here’s a quick look at some of what ONE and our activists...
Africa launches the largest trials of treatments for mild and moderate COVID-19 cases, mayors join forces to tackle gender inequality, and UK cuts its aid budget. Plus, a look at which countries have gender-balanced cabinets. Here are six crucial stories you may have missed this month. Africa’s largest COVID treatment trial launches A network of 13 African countries joined forces with global researchers to launch Africa’s largest clinical trial of potential COVID-19 treatments. The Anticov study aims to identify treatments for mild...