Nearly a year and a half into the crisis, COVID-19 has taken as many as 12.7 million lives and cost the world economy trillions of dollars. It is threatening to push 115 million more people into extreme poverty, with women and girls fairing the worst.
In Africa, the aftershocks of the pandemic are particularly profound. Throughout West Africa, the price of staples is up 40% over a five-year average. At one point, Nigeria was spending 99% of its revenues on...