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...
Top news Tidal wave: COVID-19 cases are surging across Africa. The WHO said that confirmed cases rose by more than 20% since last week, calling for “urgent action” to curb the wave of infections. Uganda has seen an astonishing 2,800% rise in cases since last month, with reports of patients dying while waiting for a hospital bed. Rwanda, Namibia, and South Africa have also reintroduced restrictions in an effort to tackle the crisis. The African CDC Director John Nkenhasong warned...
COVID-19 and its aftershocks are threatening to wipe out decades of hard-earned progress in the fight against extreme poverty. For the first time in more than 20 years, global poverty is on the rise. The World Bank estimated that the number of people living in extreme poverty globally increased by 120 million (including 40 million in Africa) in 2020 due to the pandemic. The outlook is grimmer still with a further increase of up to 40 million is projected...
Top news Turning point: This week’s G7 summit needs to be a “turning point” in the race to vaccinate the world against COVID-19. Joe Biden played the first card as he boarded Air Force 1 on Wednesday, promising to announce a major plan to vaccinate the world (more on that later). At ONE we’re joining 200 world leaders in calling for the G7 to do whatever it takes to beat the virus everywhere, starting with immediately sharing at least 1...
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on Nigeria’s economy. Official statistics show that growth declined by 1.9% in 2020, but the fallouts will be far-reaching. Nigeria has significant underlying challenges that will make recovery difficult. It is the seventh most populous country in the world, with 70% of the population under the age of 30. It also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Africa — two out of three young Nigerians (aged 15-24) are unemployed. Moreover, over 80...
Top news Fundamental threat: Low-income economies face a “fundamental threat” of being left behind. The OECD this week predicted low-income countries could take as long as five years to return to pre-pandemic growth levels — compared to 18 months for the US. This echoes IMF analysis and World Bank warnings that decades of progress in the fight against poverty are set to be reversed. G7 finance ministers meet this week, and we know some of their advisers read this email:...
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, and read on for the latest on how under-resourced health systems are contributing to high COVID-19 death rates in Africa, the prospects of a global pandemic treaty, and the ONE Community’s Africa Day celebrations.  Top news Disturbing discrepancy: If you become severely ill with COVID-19 in Africa, you have about a 50-50 chance of surviving. New...
Nigeria is facing a fiscal crisis. A perfect storm of the pandemic, remittances falling by 28%, and an oil price crash meant that in the first quarter of 2020, 99% of revenues (yes 99%) were spent on debt service. This year, despite being in the middle of a global pandemic, the federal government cut funding to health by 4%. It may come as a shock, then, to learn that, in 2019 (the only year for which we have data) just...
Top news Astoundingly unequal: Vaccine equity will dominate debates at this week’s Global Health Summit in Rome. Convened by G20 Chair Mario Draghi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU is expected to make a major announcement on supporting African manufacturing of vaccines. ONE’s analysis of the issue has been featured on BBC, CNN, CNBC, and many other outlets. We’ve consolidated it all in our new deep dive: The astoundingly unequal vaccine rollout. Think bigger: Leaders gathering in...