Falling on 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child is a United Nations day that brings attention to “girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.” Empowering young girls early in life can give them the “potential to change the world — both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders.” However, as we’ve seen with previous health crises, COVID-19’s lingering economic and social impacts on...
The World Bank predicts the greatest drop in remittances in recent history, with low-income developing countries set to receive US$110 billion less, due to COVID-19 in 2020. Remittances, which are the cash flows sent home by migrant workers to help their families, are a huge source of finance for low- and-middle-income countries. Last year, these countries received 78% of the US$714 billion that were sent around the world. Global remittance flows were five times higher than official development assistance in...
To ensure that the world responds effectively to COVID-19 and the challenges it has presented, world leaders, companies, and individuals need to come together in a single response effort — a global pandemic of this magnitude demands a global response. Finding an effective vaccine is a key part of a global response plan. But that is only half the battle. After an effective vaccine for COVID-19 becomes available, world leaders must come together to ensure there is equitable access to a...
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven just how important strong health systems and both patient and healthcare worker safety is. With World Patient Safety Day falling on 17 September during a global health crisis, the gaps in our health systems are more apparent now than ever before. At its core, World Patient Safety Day “calls for global solidarity and concentrated action by all countries and international partners to improve patient safety.” The current pandemic, unfortunately, has “unveiled the huge challenges health...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. Ntombi Mbinda gestures around the kitchen in her home; it’s a room only of women. One woman bends over a pot, stirring the day’s rice. Another cuts vegetables, their headwraps shine brilliantly in the slanting light of the afternoon sun. The women — Theodora, Lorna, Phindiwe, Nobuntu, and Noxolo — arrive every weekday at 8:30am to begin cooking from Ntombi’s home. Outside the kitchen, a garden Ntombi planted...
When responding to a global crisis, good leaders and leadership is essential. Pandemics and health crises know no borders and can affect entire populations. However, having strong leaders can significantly impact how and how well a country responds. To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, we need strong leaders, globally and locally. One quality that leaders must possess in order to effectively respond to the crisis is being able to take decisive, urgent action. Urgent decision-making is a fundamental part of being...
In order to make a difference, we must be the change we wish to see in this world. ONE Champions do just that — they are global activists who are working today to create a better world for tomorrow. They are a strong and vibrant group of volunteers who work to support ONE Africa’s advocacy work via lobbying, recruiting, and supporting the ONE mission. In order to grow that amazing team and further their efforts, ONE has just launched recruitment...
The socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 crisis is real. Beyond the deaths and hardships caused by the coronavirus, the pandemic is also devastating livelihoods and disrupting the movement of people, goods, and services. Virtually every sector that contributes to economic growth is affected: health, education, transport, environment, infrastructure, hospitality, tourism, entertainment, construction, manufacturing, transport, agriculture, and wholesale and retail trade, among others. With limited public resources to combat the pandemic, the global economy is struggling to achieve positive growth rates and...
ONE Champion Felix Brian Onyango shares why it’s important to raise up the voices of today’s youth. International Youth Day on 12 August gives an opportunity to celebrate and bring to the forefront young peoples’ voices, actions, and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal, and equitable engagement. The theme of International Youth Day 2020 is “Youth Engagement for Global Action,” which aptly highlights the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national, and global levels...
In light of the current global pandemic, Hewan Berhane, a ONE Champion in Africa, is sharing why COVID-19 is the wake up call we all need to take global action. Exasperating; is it not? The overwhelming spread of a virus in all corners of the world. How do we stop it? We will stick to the World Health Organization’s recommendations. But here is another essential question to ask: What is our take away from this health crisis? Our reaction during the...