The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold fear and suffering for older people across the world. As of 26 April, the virus itself has already taken the lives of some 193,710 people, and fatality rates for those over 80 years of age is five times the global average. As the virus spreads rapidly to devel...oping countries, likely overwhelming health and social protection systems, the mortality rate for older persons could climb even higher.
Less visible but no less worrisome are the broader effects: health care denied for conditions unrelated to COVID-19; neglect and abuse in institutions and care facilities; an increase in poverty and unemployment; the dramatic impact on well-being and mental health; and the trauma of stigma and discrimination.
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The “United Nations Framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19: Shared responsibility, global solidarity and urgent action for people in need” calls for protecting jobs, businesses and livelihoods to set in motion a safe recovery of societies and economies as soon as possibl...e for a more sustainable, gender-equal, and carbon-neutral path—better than the “old normal”.
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South Africa reported it fist case of COVID-19 on 5 March 2020. While the first cases were imported, local transmission has led to a rapid increase in the number of cases. As of 21 April 2020, more than 3,400 cases and 58 deaths had been confirmed. On 15 March, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a n...ational state of disaster, and the government has since taken several measures to curb the spread of the virus, including closing borders, implementing strict social distancing measures and a 35-day nation-wide lockdown. These measures, along with the global economic shock caused by the pandemic, are expected to generate rising needs requiring an immediate and urgent response. Although South Africa is considered an upper-middle-income country, the amount of disparities—social, economic, and gender—make the country particularly vulnerable during this emergency.
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The below guidance has been designed to ensure the care of children affected by COVID-19 due to either the child or caregiver requiring medical care in the home, community or health facility, it serves to
This technical brief was developed by the UNFPA Global Ageing Network to complement the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs' (UN DESA) Issue Brief: Older Persons and COVID-19, which emphasized the humanitarian imperative of addressing older persons' specific needs within preparedness and re...sponse to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Activities during precautionary measures (age group 6-13).
During infectious disease outbreaks, children may experience distress for a variety of reasons. The collective anxiety and grief that a community experiences can impact heavily on children. Limited public knowledge of the disease may trigge...r misinformation, rumors and panic.
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As information about COVID-19 is rapidly evolving, it can be challenging to navigate and synthesize all of the information. The purpose of this document is to provide a synthesized, indexed reference of accurate, standardized COVID-19 information from trustworthy sources. Information is presented in... simple, clear language to support the development of messages and materials needed for social and behavior change interventions.
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Pandemics and outbreaks have differential impacts on women and men. From risk of exposure and biological susceptibility to infection to the social and economic implications, individuals’ experiences are likely to vary according to their biological and gender characteristics and... their interaction with other social determinants. Because of this, global and national strategic plans for COVID-19 preparedness and response must be grounded in strong gender analysis and must ensure meaningful participation of affected groups, including women and girls, in decision-making and implementation.
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For over a decade, Senegalese and international journalists, human rights advocates, and child protection experts have documented and denounced the ongoing exploitation, abuse and neglect of children living in many of Senegal’s traditional Quranic schools, or daaras. Thousands of these children, k...nown as talibés, continue to live in conditions of extreme squalor, deprived of adequate food and medical care.
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Five months after the beginning of the desert locust upsurge in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen, and four months since the launch of the response plan (24 January 2020) a total of USD 130 million have been mobilized in the region.
As described in the recently published Food and Agriculture Org...anization of the United Nations (FAO) quarterly report (January to April 2020), a lot has been achieved already, thanks to generous contributions from resource partners and affected governments.
But bringing a desert locust upsurge under control and mitigating its impact on livelihoods and food security requires a prolonged effort and numerous factors could influence the duration and magnitude of the problem, including the widespread presence of COVID-19.
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his revision to the Disaster Management Team’s (DMT) multi-sector response plan for COVID-19 is meant to align the multi-sector plan with the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan issued on 24 April 2020. Additionally, at the time of this version, the Department of Education an...d Department for Community Development and Religion have also issued their own national COVID-19 response and recovery plans.
The Government’s plan maintains a health sector focus and plans for a ‘worst case’ scenario, articulating the process of progressing into containment and subsequently mitigation of community transmission and on to recovery. It presents an opportunity to improve the core capacities of the whole of government, to see where both health and non-health sectors fit in and respond in the immediate and medium terms, and to adapt to the ‘new normal’ that this coronavirus has inevitably presented
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Nos enfrentamos a la mayor desaceleración económica de la que se tenga memoria. El sistema humanitario se está preparando para un drástico aumento de los conflictos, la inseguridad alimentaria y la pobreza a medida que las economías se contraen y desaparecen los ingresos por exportaciones, las ...remesas y el turismo.
Los confinamientos y la recesión económica pueden significar una pandemia de hambre para millones de personas.
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While the full effects of COVID-19 remain unknown, the pandemic continues to profoundly impact regional migration and mobility dynamics, with deep health, social and economic consequences for the most vulnerable, including migrants, displaced populations and their host communities, and returnees.
The 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak was catastrophic in West Africa but the indirect impact of increasing the mortality rates of other conditions was also substantial. The increased number of deaths caused by malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis attributable to health system failures exceeded deaths from ...Ebola.
With a relatively limited COVID-19 caseload, health systems may have the capacity to maintain routine service delivery in addition to managing COVID-19 cases. When caseloads are high, and/or health workers are directly affected, strategic adaptations are required to ensure that increasingly limited resources provide maximum benefit for the refugees and surrounding host population. The following are key considerations for UNHCR operations on prioritized health care services in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak. These are based on WHO Guidance for Maintaining Essential Health Services and UNHCR guidance for operations and where relevant operation or site level outbreak preparedness and response plans.
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The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of disruption to education, impacting over 90% of the world’s student population: 1.54 billion children, including 743 million girls. School closures and the wider socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on communities and society also disrup...t children’s and young people’s normal support systems, leaving them more vulnerable to illnesses and child protection risks such as physical and humiliating punishment, sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage, child labour, child trafficking and recruitment and use in armed conflict. Girls and other marginalised groups, particularly those in displaced settings, are particularly affected.
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This report provides an overview of the key information gaps and limitations in interpreting existing COVID-19 data
It is too early to know the full impact of COVID-19 on Africa. To date the experience has been varied. There are causes for concern, but also reasons for hope. Early estimates were pessimistic regarding the pandemic’s impact on the continent. But the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases report...ed thus far have raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic. While the virus is present in all African countries, most countries have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. The African Union acted swiftly, endorsing a joint continental strategy in February, and complementing efforts by Member States and Regional Economic Communities by providing a public health platform.
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PERC produces regional and member state situation analyses, updated regularly.
This guide is intended to support teams working directly with communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. It provides general guidance on community engagement during outbreak responses, including how to support an integrated response, as well as outbreak prevention and response.