COVID-19 Aftershocks: Access denied: Teenage pregnancy threatens to block a million girls across sub-Saharan Africa from returning to school

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The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked unprecedented havoc on children, families and communities around the globe, disrupting vital services and putting millions of lives at risk. Since March, attempts to avert the global health crisis have seen nationwide school closures in 194 countries, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners – over 90 per cent of the world’s school-going population. For the most vulnerable children, especially girls, accessing education and staying in school is hard enough. The pandemic…

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Africa trade and Covid‑19: The supply chain dimension

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Key messages: Fall in trade volume – especially cross-border trade – investment and commodity prices have negatively impacted the forecast for Africa’s economic growth. For the first time in 25 years, gross domestic product (GDP) for the continent is projected to contract. Comparative value chain analyses show some similarities: adaptation includes shifting manufacturing towards the production of personal protective equipment (PPE). The shutdown of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in India and China, increased prices of raw…

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Out of Time: COVID-19 Aftershocks

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Millions of parents and caregivers have lost incomes and jobs due to COVID-19, forcing them to expose their children to harmful and dangerous circumstances such as begging or child marriage. World Vision has conducted rapid assessments in 24 countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia confirming alarming predictions of increased child hunger, violence, and poverty due to the economic impact of COVID-19.These assessment results give further evidence that the most vulnerable families and their…

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Responding to the Shadow Pandemic: Taking stock of gender-based violence risks and responses during COVID-19

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Gender-based violence is a problem of human rights, public health and development. It is also a problem that has had devastating effects for women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. This real-time emergent learning brief has been prepared for UNICEF country offices and practitioners as they respond to gender-based violence during the pandemic. Drawing on evidence from current country experiences, the brief identifies emerging risks related to gender-based violence; highlights programme responses and adaptations; and…

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Human rights, the environment and COVID-19: Key Messages

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The COVID-19 crisis reveals a clear truth about catastrophic risk in an increasingly globalized world: an effective response requires immediate, ambitious and evidence-based preventive action at the international level. To avert future global threats, including pandemics, we must protect rights to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment upon which we all depend for our health and wellbeing. A human rights-based approach to the COVID-19 crisis is also needed to address its unequal impacts on…

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Covid-19 Is a Feminist Issue

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Across the Asia-Pacific and around the globe, there is emerging evidence that Covid-19 is having a disproportionate impact on women and girls, particularly women of color, including on their economic opportunities, rights and security, and voice and leadership in decision-making. Tough measures to control the disease—such as closing businesses, restricting personal freedoms, and reducing community interaction—have caused fear, anxiety, and crushing economic uncertainty, all of which are shown to contribute to violence against women and…

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Faith Actors in the COVID-19 Response

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Faith plays a role in the lives and behaviours of 84% of the world’s population5 and faith leaders in particular can exercise considerable influence in many communities during the current crisis. Faith leaders can be a positive influence, sharing accurate information, modelling healthy behaviours and responding to the most vulnerable. However, without support and engagement, they can also support the spread of misinformation and myths about COVID-19.   Download

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Reopening schools too early could spread COVID-19 even faster – especially in the developing world

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Low-income countries face a very different set of circumstances to high-income countries when it comes to reopening schools after lockdown. In developing countries, adults and the elderly generally have more contact with children than those in advanced economies. A new study predicts that delaying school openings could save lives.   Read more

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‘I have nothing to feed my family…’ COVID-19 risk pathways for adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries

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This is the first in a series of briefs. It focuses on the short-term effects of covid-19 and associated lockdowns on adolescent girls and boys in LMICs. The next brief will focus on the effects of the pandemic six months after lockdowns. The authors draw on AGIP’s covid-19 risks and opportunities for adolescent girls framework, focusing on six key domains: health; education and learning; livelihoods and social protection; age- and gender-based violence; water and sanitation;…

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COVID-19: The Sky Hasn’t Fallen Yet In Africa

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While the continent has a number of lessons for the rest of the world regarding handling COVID-19 and pandemics, its comparatively lower testing rate is raising concerns that  the official figures from the region do not accurately capture the true extent of pandemic. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft founder, Bill Gates predicted it could claim about 10 million lives in Africa. His wife and co-chair of the Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, added…

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