By March 2020, UNESCO reported nearly 3 million students across the world had their education disrupted due to COVID-19 after just 13 countries saw school closures. By April 2020, 194 countries instituted countrywide school closures affecting 91% of enrolled learners.
Disruptions to students’ academic years can have extreme consequences. Just three months of missed schooling can result in 1.5 years of learning loss years later. This is the impact COVID-19 is having on school-aged boys and girls across the globe.
Unfortunately,...
Arielle Witter
Having safe and effective vaccines a full year since the first reported cases of COVID-19 is a historic scientific achievement. It has shifted the conversation from “if” we will see an end to the pandemic to “when.”
But COVID-19 will not end with just a vaccine. It ends when everyone, everywhere has access to it. If the virus remains unchecked anywhere in the world, it will continue to move across borders, mutate, and drastically impact the global economy. Prioritizing the...
Nearly 690 million people are undernourished, according to a recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and this figure has been rising steadily since 2014. In 2019, close to 750 million were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest rate of malnutrition, affecting 22% of the population, or 239 million people. While food insecurity is a complex problem that requires a range of policy interventions, one way to tackle this...
Less than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Moderna have created safe and effective vaccines against the virus, and some nations have begun vaccinating their citizens. Although this is great news and a major scientific achievement, the work isn’t done, and we’re seeing some signs that this accomplishment could be undermined by a failure to get the vaccine everywhere.
The pandemic won’t end with just a vaccine, but when there is global access to it and...
Amadou Mahtar Ba, a member of the Africa Policy Advisory Board of ONE, is sharing why debt relief is crucial for Africa to recover from COVID-19.
The economic and health costs to Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented by any measure. With the death toll rising above 50,000 and more than 2 million confirmed infections so far, the continent has many reasons to be worried.
So far, COVID-19 lockdowns have triggered the first continent-wide recession in 25...
No one has been completely immune to the impacts of COVID-19, although some groups have felt these impacts more acutely. Our recent coverage has highlighted COVID-19’s impact on girls and women: girls’ education is under threat; maternal and reproductive care is being compromised; women’s and girls’ unpaid work is increasing; and we’re seeing elevated rates of intimate partner violence.
Here, we spotlight three different women-led grassroots organizations that are identifying COVID-19’s unique impacts on women and girls and are responding...
This year around the world, activists have stepped up to do their part to make the world a better, safer place for everyone, no matter where they’re from. Now, after a long year and tireless work from activists, it’s time to start preparing for the year ahead. Whether you’re a seasoned activist or if you’re just beginning your activism journey, it’s time to start thinking about how to affect change in 2021.
Here are six resolutions for activists to consider...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
In South Africa, women are at risk.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world, and a femicide rate that is five times the global average, with an estimated 12.1 in 100,000 victims each year. South Africa’s gender-based violence statistics (GBV) are equal to a country at war.
South Africa held its yearly 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,...
The best kinds of gifts are the ones that save lives! That’s why the (RED) Shopathon is back for the sixth year, offering up tons of ways to make your shopping count this holiday season. As a division of ONE, (RED)’s goal is to end AIDS by utilizing the power of people and companies. (RED) contributes profits of sales of (RED)-branded products and experiences to the Global Fund, which aims to end AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as epidemics.
As COVID-19...
Edith Esinam Asamani-Wasie, a GPE Youth Advocate in Ghana, is weighing in on the realities of gender-based violence, especially during COVID-19, and the steps everyone can take to achieve gender equality.
The pandemic has socioeconomically affected more girls and women than boys and men. First, despite progress, there is still a gender disparity in access to education. The pandemic led to the closure of schools and movement of most physical classes to virtual platforms, where there is a gender digital...