A Pathway to Universal Healthcare in India

Universal healthcare (UHC) is an important global goal because of its close links to poverty reduction and enhancement of the growth potential of countries. While several countries can now be said to be well on their way towards achieving this goal, several others, most notably large ones such as India and Nigeria, are decidedly not.

How do we get out of lockdown?

 

 
Dr David Nabarro is a Special Envoy of World Health Organization Director-General on COVID-19, Co-Director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation at the Imperial College London and Strategic Director of 4SD. His Narratives are being written with the 4SD team to help readers to make sense of the fast-evolving pandemic and its multiple consequences and to identify the questions to consider when making decisions about measures to contain and suppress outbreaks. They provide readers with insight from David’s leadership and continuous learning, as a public health and development professional with over 40 years’ experience across many countries and contexts, as we navigate this complex, multi-faceted crisis.

Q&A: Child Marriage, FGM and Harmful Practices on Women’s Bodies to Increase Because of COVID-19

An additional 5.6 million child marriages can be expected because of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in a short-term increase in poverty and the shutdown of schools.  The current pandemic is also expected to have a massive impact on the projected growth of harmful practices on women’s bodies.

Rethink Food Security and Nutrition Following Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 crisis has had several unexpected effects, including renewed attention to food security concerns. Earlier understandings of food security in terms of production self-sufficiency have given way to importing supplies since late 20th century promotion of trade liberalization.

Sustainable Tourism and Fisheries Key to Growth in Post-COVID Pacific

Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countless devastated. Yet, we must look at the economic and social impacts in small island developing States (SIDS), where setbacks are likely to undo years of development gains and push many people back into poverty.

White House Fenced In: Trump, Within, Ploughs a Lonely Furrow

President Donald Trump has got himself a wall. But it is not the one of his choosing, as one on the Mexican border. It is on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC, a high fence that now separates him from his people. But as polls for him keep dipping, and the prognosis for a victory in the upcoming November elections keep worsening, a prediction from an unlikely person should bring him cheer. The source is none other than the Foreign Minister of a country that Trump considers to be in the forefront of his list of foes: Javad Zareef of Iran. I have known Zareef and worked with him as a fellow diplomat for years and would rate him as a person of extraordinary intellect. Speaking at an interview on Instagram with an Iranian journalist Farid Modaressi, Zareef stated that despite all that is happening, Trump’s support base of 30 to 35 percent has not moved , and till that occurs, he still has over 50 percent chances of re-election. Zareef did not elaborate if he himself would prefer such an outcome, calculating that four more years of America with Trump at its helm , might eliminate that nation totally from the global power scene, which for Zareef and Iran, ought to be a consummation devoutly to be wished!

Managing an Epidemic Within a Pandemic

While COVID-19 has made the headlines every day over the past two months, services for tuberculosis (TB), one of the oldest diseases in the world, have been interrupted due to the lockdown. According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2019, India had an estimated 2.7 million new cases and 440,000 deaths due to TB in 2018—the highest in the world.

Put Climate at the Heart of COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plans

Cast your mind back. Six months ago—it seems like a lifetime—the world’s attention was on Madrid. The United Nations was meeting to take stock of international progress in fighting climate change. Headlines were dominated by young people pointing out—rightly—that governments were still not doing enough. They demanded urgent and ambitious action to cut emissions and help the most vulnerable.

Africa’s Post-pandemic Future Needs to Embrace Youth in Agriculture

Warnings at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic that Africa could be hit by a wave of up to 10 million cases within six months thankfully now seem unfounded, although it is still far too early to be over-confident.

Q&A: Post COVID-19 Pandemic Let’s Stop the Next Wave of Medicalisation over Mental Health

The current pandemic is not only heightening mental health concerns, but might also put many at risk of becoming institutionalised or being neglected by the system.

How Deforestation Helps Deadly Viruses Jump from Animals to Humans

The coronavirus pandemic, suspected of originating in bats and pangolins, has brought the risk of viruses that jump from wildlife to humans into stark focus.

Looking Beyond the Lowest-common Denominator? DFID/FCO Merger

Nazia has a herd of 5 cows. She has two daughters in secondary education, a seat on the Village Council, a savings account and a permanent home. Nazia has dignity, security and prospects beyond poverty. This is Nazia’s story because alongside her commitment and conviction to create a better life, she benefited directly from the UK government, and its global leadership in the drive to end extreme poverty.

UNESCO Campaign – The next normal

UNESCO launches a global campaign challenging our perception of normality. The 2’20” film relies on facts to prove its point – facts about the world before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Put together, these facts make us question our ideas about what is “normal”, suggesting that we have accepted the unacceptable for far too long. Our previous reality cannot be considered normal any longer, now is the time to make a change. It all starts with Education, Science, Culture and Information.

Reopening from the Great Lockdown: Uneven and Uncertain Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed economies into a Great Lockdown, which helped contain the virus and save lives, but also triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression. Over 75 percent of countries are now reopening at the same time as the pandemic is intensifying in many emerging market and developing economies. Several countries have started to recover. However, in the absence of a medical solution, the strength of the recovery is highly uncertain and the impact on sectors and countries uneven.

Sweden-Costa Rica: Same Paths on Climate Change, Different on COVID-19

The lack of a coordinated international response had led to varying results worldwide in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Two countries that have long coordinated their response to global goals like promotion on democracy, human rights and environmental issues, Sweden and Costa Rica highlight how public policy matters. While with their similar approaches to climate change the two walk together, their different approaches to COVID-19 have reaped disparate results, and death tolls.

The Critical Role of Women in Avoiding a Covid-19 “Food Pandemic” in sub-Saharan Africa

As infections with Covid-19 appear to be intensifying in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), fears of severe food shortages have prompted experts to warn that the region may be “on the brink of a hunger pandemic.” Efforts are intensifying to rally a major global response.

Guidance note: Addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women migrant workers

This guidance note highlights the emerging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women migrant workers, focusing on the key challenges and risks they face. It makes recommendations in the context of the economic and social response and recovery packages that governments are putting forward, supported by examples of existing good practices from around the world.

Lagos, Nigeria: Coronavirus is the least of concerns in the ‘Venice of Africa’

A riot of canoes bumping into each other in narrow waterways — paddlers yell a chorus of instructions to other boats: “Move! Shift! Stop!”

Racism, Shitholes and Re-election

Over the course of his presidency, US President Donald Trump’s racism has become more evident with more leaks of his private remarks, which he has been generally quick to deny, qualify and explain away.

Broke and broken, sex workers ending up homeless

The life of sex workers on the streets, hard as it is during normal times, has taken a worse turn after the coronavirus pandemic hit the country.