As COVID-19 spreads across low- and middle-income countries, billions of people are vulnerable to variants that could resist vaccines and put the world back at square one in tackling this pandemic.
So why isn’t the vaccine already available to everyone, everywhere? It comes down to supply and distribution. Rich countries have bought up the majority of the supply and are hoarding even what they don’t need. Meanwhile, low- and middle-income countries are struggling to roll out the doses they do...
Jorge Rivera
African countries are facing a third wave of COVID-19 infections which threatens to be even more brutal than the two that came before. Across Africa, between June and July, cases rose by nearly 200%. The continent just exceeded its worst-ever week in the pandemic, and the WHO has warned that cases are now doubling every three weeks. Over a dozen countries have already reported their highest rate of infections since the start of the pandemic, with over 700,000 confirmed...
ONE’s debt donut shows that 80% debt service payments from poorer countries have not been suspended, despite warm words from the G20.
COVID-19 is threatening to wipe out decades of economic progress and development gains.
The World Bank's strategy to support low-income countries during COVID-19 has focused on providing new loans and grants. Has it worked?
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo years of progress on global education. Since the pandemic started, school closures have affected up to 91% of enrolled learners, or 1.6 billion children. Here is a look at how countries’ policies on school closures evolved over the past six months.
COVID-19 quickly transformed from a localized epidemic to a global pandemic with far-reaching consequences across sectors
6 months ago, when COVID-19 was still just a localized epidemic, only two countries had restrictions on...
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire globe and continues to alter life as we know it. But as COVID-19 cases soar in Europe, the United States, Brazil, and India, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa remain comparatively low. With a population of 1.2 billion and weak health infrastructure, experts feared that COVID-19 would severely impact the entire continent of Africa. Speculation is growing that Africa’s youth bulge and warmer climate could help spare most African countries from the worst...
Governments are spending trillions of dollars on COVID-19 response. By necessity, that spending is happening rapidly — yet often there is little or no oversight, increasing the risk that money is stolen or mismanaged and that additional lives are lost or ruined.
Strong oversight and monitoring of emergency funds can help save lives. It can root out corruption and fraud, helping to ensure that money reaches its intended purpose. It enables markets to function effectively, potentially driving down prices, and...
So far, most countries in Africa are reporting comparatively low numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a few countries accounting for most of the confirmed cases.
But the impacts of food insecurity could end up being worse than the direct impacts of the health pandemic. The number of people experiencing acute food insecurity is expected to double to more than one-quarter of a billion people by end of 2020. And the World Bank estimates that between 26-39 million people in...
The costs of the COVID-19 pandemic are going to be monumental. Africa alone is estimated to need US$100-$200 billion to address the impact. 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 costs of this pandemic.
Debt relief is one of the fastest, most effective means of freeing up cash in developing country budgets. The recent G20 agreement to suspend debt...