The UN General Assembly is bringing together world leaders this week, all with the hope of making the world a better place for everyone, no matter where they are from. At this year’s UNGA, one topic is overshadowing events and speeches: COVID-19. The global pandemic has highlighted challenges and inequalities around the world, one of which is gender inequality. The pandemic’s effects could lead to disproportionate impacts on women’s work, girls’ education, and much more. That’s why we’re highlighting nine female...
Marc Friend is the Assistant Director, US Government Relations at the ONE Campaign. Here’s his analysis and thoughts on recent congressional plans to strengthen global health security. COVID-19 has proven that we won’t be safe until the world works together to tackle this pandemic. Unfortunately, we also know that this won’t be the last deadly disease that the world will face. The US should be front and center leading the effort to prevent and respond to the next global health...
COVID-19 has impacted almost every aspect of our global society, and people around the world are feeling these effects. While the fatality rates have disproportionately affected men — the case-fatality ratio (which is “the proportion of individuals diagnosed with a disease and die from that disease”) is 2.4 times higher for men than women — women and girls are among the most vulnerable socially and economically compared to their male counterparts. From being more likely to work in the informal...
Helene Gayle is a US doctor, CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, and the former CEO of CARE. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what she had to say. A coordinated global response to COVID is critical. This is a global pandemic and without global cooperation, we will not be able to have the effect that is so necessary in this ever more interconnected world. COVID has shown us, perhaps more than any other...
Listen to the experts. That’s the message actress and ONE champion Danai Gurira shared when she joined The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to discuss ONE’s #PassTheMic campaign, and the need for global cooperation to fight the coronavirus. Danai and over 40 other celebrities participated in the participated in the #PassTheMic campaign, which featured celebrities from across the world turning over their social media platforms to experts to highlight the need for a global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When discussing...
In times of crisis, strong leaders are of the utmost importance. We look to our leaders to demonstrate how we should respond to the issues at hand and guide us in the right direction. COVID-19 is a global crisis that requires the attention and efforts from leaders worldwide. However, more than half a year into this pandemic, we are still awaiting strong global leadership. In the past six months, we have seen unimaginable changes to how we live. Countries have...
Six months since the coronavirus outbreak was first reported, only 0.1% of the total emergency funding appropriated by Congress so far has gone to the global coronavirus response. As Senate leadership weighs additional funding for the COVID-19 response, there has been a surge of support for funding for a global pandemic response package. Bipartisan group of senators push for COVID-19 global response funding With over 13 million reported cases worldwide, it is clear that if we are to defeat this virus...
Mark Dybul is the co-director of the Centre for Global Health Practice and Impact, and professor at Georgetown University. We interviewed him as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what he had to say. This is the first time really since 1918 that the world has encountered a pandemic that reaches every corner of the earth. As soon as restrictions start to lift, the infection will start to pop up from people moving around. So we need to...
Andy Slavitt is a senior advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Centre. We interviewed Andy as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say. Up until now, we’ve all been dealing with shock and a lack of context at being able to respond to a situation that’s out of most people’s experience base. So there are all kinds of fears and adjustments that have had to happen. However, we have learned at this point in time that...
Raj Mariwala is the director of Mariwala Health Initiative, which supports organisations in India to provide mental health services to all. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what she had to say. COVID has shown a lot of the fault lines in our health systems, particularly around leaving people behind. We’re only as strong as the system is. So if it’s built for a certain type of person, and we know that COVID affects marginalised...