Category Archives: Global development

Paraguayans go hungry as coronavirus lockdown ravages livelihoods

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Early, aggressive measures seem to be controlling the disease but the pandemic has laid bare the country’s social inequalities

When Covid-19 arrived in South America, Paraguay was one of the first countries to take measures to contain the virus, closing schools and banning public gatherings after just the second confirmed case on 11 March.

The nationwide lockdown seems to be controlling the spread of the disease, but it has created another problem: large numbers of Paraguayans are going hungry in their own homes.

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‘It’s a very worrying time’: Sri Lanka’s recovery interrupted by coronavirus

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As the anniversary of the bombs that shook the country looms, survivors working to build harmony face multiple challenges

A year on from the Easter bombs that killed more than 250 people, Sri Lanka is now under pandemic lockdown and facing rising pressure.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose decision to include individuals accused of atrocities during the country’s 25-year civil war among his political appointments has been a source of international opprobrium, is now under fire over the country’s repressive, militarised response to Covid-19.

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Foreigners targeted in Central African Republic as coronavirus fears grow

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Peacekeeping and aid operations face disruption as outsiders are scapegoated in one of Africa’s most vulnerable countries

A backlash against foreigners in Central African Republic threatens to disrupt peacekeeping and aid supplies in one of Africa’s most fragile countries.

Since an Italian missionary was identified as CAR’s first coronavirus case last month, xenophobia has been on the rise. Unfounded stories widely published in the country’s newspapers and on social media have portrayed foreigners as unwelcome importers of a disease that could further impoverish the country.

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Declare abortion a public health issue during pandemic, WHO urged

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Charities press World Health Organization to ensure women can get contraception and safe abortions during crisis

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    • The World Health Organization is being urged to declare abortion an essential health service during the coronavirus pandemic.

    In guidance notes issued last week, the WHO advised all governments to identify and prioritise the health services each believed essential, listing reproductive health services as an example.

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    Tanzania to ease education ban on pregnant girls – but not in classrooms

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    Official announcement greeted with cautious optimism but World Bank comes under fire over $500m education loan

    Tanzania has pledged to improve access to education for pregnant girls after receiving a controversial $500m (£402m) World Bank loan, but has stopped short of readmitting them to mainstream classrooms.

    The World Bank has been accused of undermining human rights and has faced criticism from local and international civil society groups over the Tanzania secondary education quality improvement programme loan. Campaigners say approval should not have been given without first securing a commitment from the government to reverse its discrimination towards pregnant girls and end compulsory pregnancy tests.

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    Doctors sue Zimbabwe government over lack of Covid-19 protective equipment

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    Court application warns ‘many lives will be lost’ without urgent action to provide face masks

    The Zimbabwean government has been taken to court over its failure to provide doctors working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic with masks.

    The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) is seeking to compel the authorities urgently to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical practitioners, warning that medics in the country’s troubled health sector will otherwise die.

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    ‘Most of the men are your enemies’: one woman’s crusade in Somalia

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    Ibado Mohammed Abdulle is a counsellor, friend and campaigner for women who have been made refugees in their own country by the impact of the climate crisis

    The long, black hem of Ibado Mohammed Abdulle’s diya drags in the sand, creating mini tornadoes of dust under her sandals. At a circular fence of waist-high thorny bushes, she knocks on the metal sheet serving as a makeshift door. A woman’s face, partially hidden by a bright green hijab, appears. “Salaam Alaikum,” Abdulle says, “peace be upon you.”

    Holding up a hand to the armed guards tasked with accompanying the visiting charity staff following her around the displacement camp, she instructs them to stay outside.

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    Covid-19 spreading quickly though refugee camps, warn Calais aid groups

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    With over 1,000 refugees and migrants left without proper sanitation, water supplies or food there is no way to contain virus, say volunteers

    The last remaining volunteers working with refugees and migrants in northern France have warned that Covid-19 is spreading quickly through the makeshift camps where over 1,000 people are sheltering without proper sanitation, water supplies or food.

    Care4Calais, one of the only organisations still providing emergency services to migrants and refugees in Calais, said the number of people exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 rose from two to nine in just three days last week.

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    Coronavirus could double number of people going hungry

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    Exclusive: multinationals write to G7 and G20 urging leaders to keep borders open to trade and avert global food crisis

    Food supplies across the world will be “massively disrupted” by the coronavirus, and unless governments act the number of people suffering chronic hunger could double, some of the world’s biggest food companies have warned.

    Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo, along with farmers’ organisations, the UN Foundation, academics, and civil society groups, have written to world leaders, calling on them to keep borders open to trade in order to help society’s most vulnerable, and to invest in environmentally sustainable food production.

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    Coronavirus could turn back the clock 30 years on global poverty

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    Economic impact of global shutdown could push half a billion people into privation, researchers warn

    Half a billion people could be pushed into poverty as economies around the world shrink because of the coronavirus outbreak, a new study has warned.

    Poverty levels in developing countries could be set back by up to 30 years, research released by the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research warned on Thursday.

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    ‘In a war, we draw’: Vietnam’s artists join fight against Covid-19

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    Despite a border with China, nation has kept confirmed cases low through quarantining, contact tracing, testing – and propaganda

    A masked healthcare worker stands valiant as a soldier, flanked by a bold slogan proclaiming that “to stay at home is to love your country”. Beneath, fine print implores residents to declare symptoms or report anyone escaping quarantine.

    The poster, by artist Le Duc Hiep, is just one of numerous art forms to emerge from Vietnam – from viral hand washing songs to state stamps – that reflect the war-time spirit many in the country are invoking as they try to contain the virus.

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    Global trade will be vital to economic recovery from Covid-19

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    As crisis rages, governments must plan for its aftermath, says WTO’s director general

    As country after country is compelled to shutter non-essential businesses and order people home to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing public health crisis is becoming an economic and social crisis that demands a policy response.

    Millions of people already afraid for the health of their loved ones now confront the prospect of unemployment and prolonged economic misery. Dozens of emerging economies face financial and humanitarian distress as commodity prices and export earnings plummet, foreign investors flee and remittances from overseas workers decline.

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    Coronavirus in Africa: what happens next?

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    As Covid-19 creeps across the region, fears mount over how it will unfold. Will a young population help stem the spread of disease, or will it unleash catastrophe on creaking health systems?

    Just seven weeks after Africa recorded its first case of Covid-19 – an Italian national in Algeria – the virus is creeping across the continent, infecting more than 10,000 people and causing 487 deaths. Three of the region’s 54 countries – São Tome and Principe, Comoros, and Lesotho – remain apparently virus-free.

    “Case numbers are increasing exponentially in the African region,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa. “It took 16 days from the first confirmed case in the region to reach 100 cases. It took a further 10 days to reach the first thousand. Three days after this, there were 2,000 cases, and two days later we were at 3,000.”

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    ‘The NHS needs them’: UK urged to join countries mobilising migrant medics

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    As several countries relax immigration rules for medically-trained refugees and migrants in the wake of coronavirus, campaigners are calling for Britain to follow suit

    Campaigners have welcomed the relaxation of immigration restrictions by governments across Europe and the Americas to allow doctors, nurses and other key workers from refugee and migrant communities to join efforts against coronavirus.

    And they urged countries still preventing medically-trained asylum seekers from working – including Britain – to follow suit

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    Primark announces wage fund for garment workers

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    Pledge comes in response to claims that order cancellations to minimise Covid-19 losses have hurt millions of workers in the developing world

    Primark, one of the UK’s most popular retailers, has announced it will create a fund to help pay the wages of the millions of garment workers affected by its decision to cancel tens of millions of pounds worth of clothing orders from factories in developing countries across the world.

    The pledge followed sustained criticism of the fashion retailer after data from the Bangladeshi and Garment Exporters Association (BGMEA) revealed it had cancelled all orders already placed with suppliers.

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    ‘Coronavirus doesn’t respect barbed wire’: concern mounts for Greek camps

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    Calls grow for EU countries to accept refugees as outbreaks fuel fears that virus could rampage through overcrowded facilities

    The spectre of coronavirus striking severely overcrowded refugee camps in Greece has hovered menacingly for months.

    International aid organisations, human rights groups and doctors have sounded the alarm. With the spread of the pandemic, calls for action to prevent impending medical catastrophe have become shriller. In Aegean islands on the frontline of the crisis, health carers speak of days gained, not won.

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    Global leaders urge G20 to tackle twin health and economic crises

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    Letter calls for $8bn emergency fund to bolster health systems in world’s poorer countries

    A group of 165 global leaders has called for immediate and coordinated international action to tackle the twin health and economic emergencies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Past and present politicians – including three former UK prime ministers – joined academics and civil society representatives to warn the G20 that the virus will return unless urgent action is taken to bolster health systems in poor countries of Africa and Latin America.

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    Bangladesh sends food aid to sex workers as industry goes into lockdown

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    Up to 100,000 women could be left unable to support families as brothels are closed amid fears of Covid-19 outbreak

    The government of Bangladesh has started sending emergency food and aid to the tens of thousands of women working in the country’s commercial sex industry as brothels across the country close.

    To try to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the authorities have ordered the lockdown of the sex industry, closing the country’s biggest brothel in Goalanda in the Rajbari District of Dhaka until 5 April along with many others across the country.

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    ‘All I think of is my brother’: UK refugee family reunions disrupted by Covid-19

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    Home Office urged to ‘act urgently’ to rescue vulnerable minors and reunite them with family while flights still available

    After seven months of waiting, Ahmed* had everything ready for his younger brother. Finally, 18-year-old Wahid was due to arrive from the Greek island of Samos under family reunion laws.

    But on 19 March, as Covid-19 took hold across Europe, the Greek authorities called to tell him the transfer had been cancelled because of the growing restrictions on flights. Greece had suspended direct flights to the UK but indirect routes are still available.

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    Brazil coronavirus: medics fear official tally ignores ‘a mountain of deaths’

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    Lack of testing and failure to report on cases means scale of outbreak could be far greater than thought, doctors warn

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    • Brazil is bracing for a surge in coronavirus cases as doctors and researchers warn that underreporting and a lack of testing mean nobody knows the real scale of Covid-19’s spread.

    “What’s happening is enormous underreporting,” said Isabella Rêllo, a doctor working in emergency and intensive care in Rio de Janeiro hospitals, in a widely shared Facebook post challenging official numbers. “There are MANY more,” she wrote.

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