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NEW UPDATE: $35 billion more needed to accelerate treatments, vaccines; end 5,000 daily virus deaths; U.S. not joining vaccine pool

Leave a Comment / Health, News /

New York, September 10 – The United Nations and scores of governments called for a “quantum leap in funding” in the amount of $35 billion in order to accelerate the development of tests, treatments and vaccines that would prevent the current 5,000 Covid-19 daily deaths around the world.

The UN, the World Health Organization and more than 30 presidents and government ministers called for funding the ACT-Accelerator, a program that aims at speeding up efforts to end the pandemic through development, delivery of tests, treatments and equitable allocation of vaccines and foster the quick return of societies and economies. The program was launched in April by the WHO, the European Union, France and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and it has already delivered substantial work to fight the pandemic.

 “We now need $35 billion more to go from set-up to scale and impact,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “There is a real urgency in these numbers. Without an infusion of US$15 billion over the next 3 months, beginning immediately, we will lose the window of opportunity”.

He was joined by Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, who co-chair the ACT-Acceleration Facilitation Council

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said: “Nearly 5,000 lives are lost each day due to COVID-19 and the global economy is expected to contract by trillions of dollars this year. The case for investing to end the pandemic has never been stronger.”

 WHO said the ACT-Accelerator ensures equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics but it at present is facing a financing gap of $35 billion. “Fully financing the ACT-Accelerator would shorten the pandemic and pay back this investment rapidly as the global economy recovers,” it said.

The United States has decided not to join a WHO-led global program that will allow countries to have equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, raising the prospect that rich countries may acquire large doses of the shots for their own people at the expense of developing and poor countries.

A total of 172 countries are now engaged in discussion with COVAX, a global initiative that works with vaccine manufacturers to provide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines once they are licensed and approved to all countries that have signed up with the partnership, the World Health Organization said in late August.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, vaccine and therapeutic research, development, and trials have advanced at unprecedented speed to deliver groundbreaking, effective medicines driven by data and safety and not held back by government red tape,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said on September 1.

 “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.” 

“This President will spare no expense to ensure that any new vaccine maintains our own FDA’s gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested, and saves lives,” Deere said.

The US has decided to leave the World Health Organization, which will become effective next July.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States, the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom have agreed to purchase at least 3.7 billion doses from Western companies developing Covid-19 vaccines apparently for their own uses.

China and India, the world’s most populous nations which also have their own giant vaccine-making industries, are expected to reserve the vaccines for their own people.

Public health experts warned the US decision may harm global efforts to control the pandemic.

“Equal access to a COVID-19 vaccine is the key to beating the virus and paving the way for recovery from the pandemic,” said Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven when COVAX was launched. “This cannot be a race with a few winners, and the COVAX Facility is an important part of the solution – making sure all countries can benefit from access to the world’s largest portfolio of candidates and fair and equitable distribution of vaccine doses.”

WHO said COVAX has the world’s largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio – including nine candidate vaccines, with a further nine under evaluation and conversations underway with other major producers. Its success depends on countries signing up to the COVAX Facility as well as filling key funding gaps for both COVAX R&D work and a mechanism to support participation of lower-income economies in the COVAX Facility.

“COVID-19 is an unprecedented global health challenge that can only be met with unprecedented cooperation between governments, researchers, manufacturers and multilateral partners,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “By pooling resources and acting in solidarity through the ACT Accelerator and the COVAX Facility, we can ensure that once a vaccine is available for COVID-19, it’s available equitably to all countries.”

Of the 172 governments that have signed up with the partnership, 80 have higher-income economies and will finance the vaccines using their own public finance budgets and have so far submitted Expressions of Interests in the partnership and the other 92 are low- and middle-income countries. Together the group of 172 countries represents more than 70 per cent of the world’s population from all five continents and more than half of the  world’s G20 economies.

WHO said COVAX’s goal is to deliver by the end of 2021 two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification.

 “These vaccines will be offered equally to all participating countries, proportional to their populations, initially prioritising healthcare workers then expanding to cover vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions,” WHO said. “Further doses will then be made available based on country need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat. The COVAX Facility will also maintain a buffer of doses for emergency and humanitarian use, including dealing with severe outbreaks before they spiral out of control.”

The list of nine candidate vaccines is as follows:

·         Inovio, USA (Phase I/II)

·         Moderna, USA (Phase III)

·         CureVac, Germany (Phase I)

·         Institut Pasteur/Merck/Themis, France/USA/Austria (Preclinical)

·         AstraZeneca/University of Oxford, UK (Phase III)

·         University of Hong Kong, China (Preclinical)

·         Novavax, USA (Phase I/II)

·         Clover Biopharmaceuticals, China (Phase I)

·         University of Queensland/CSL, Australia (Phase I)

WHO provided the list of countries that have joined or engaged in talks to join COVAX:

The 80 countries that have submitted expressions of interest to the Gavi-coordinated COVAX Facility include 43 that have agreed to be publicly named: Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Venezuela.

In July the Gavi Board agreed on the 92 economies that will be supported the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The full list is as follows:

·         Low income: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Dem. Rep., Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, The Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Korea, Dem. People’s Rep., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Rep.,

·         Lower-middle income: Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Rep. Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Arab Rep., El Salvador, Eswatini, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic Lao PDR, Lesotho, Mauritania, Micronesia, Fed. Sts., Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Zambia, Zimbabwe

·         Additional IDA eligible: Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Kosovo, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Samoa, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga, Tuvalu.

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NEW UPDATE: $35 billion more needed to accelerate treatments, vaccines; end 5,000 daily virus deaths; U.S. not joining vaccine pool Read More »

UN: Women deserve equal status in society as they battle Covid-19 at the frontlines

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New York, August 31 – Between 70 and 90 per cent of healthcare workers battling the pandemic are women but their salary and working conditions are inferior to those enjoyed by their male counterparts, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in defense of the contribution made by women and girls while Covid-19 cases and deaths remain high around the world,

Guterres cited some glaring unequal working conditions like Personal Protective Equipment that don’t fit women because they are mostly made to fit a man standard and thus may result in causing more infection to women. He said fewer than 30 percent of decision-making positions in the health sector are occupied by women and in the broader economy women around the world are employed informally.

“Many (women) have been thrown into financial insecurity by the pandemic, without regular income and lacking any social safety net,” Guterres told a virtual townhall meeting with young women from civil society organizations on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women.

“The Covid-19 is deepening existing inequalities, including gender inequality. Already we are seeing a reversal in decades of limited and fragile progress on gender equality and women’s rights. And without a concerted response, we risk losing a generation or more of gains.”

 “The pandemic has exposed the crisis in unpaid care work, which has increased exponentially as a result of school closures and the needs of older people and falls disproportionately on women.” 

“Before the start of the pandemic it was clear that care work – unpaid in the home and underpaid in the formal economy – has long been a contributing factor to gender equality. 

Now, the pandemic has exposed the extent of its impact on physical and mental health, education and labor force participation.” 

Guterres said the United Nations has made it a top priority to protect the rights of women and girls under the current circumstances and has issued a policy brief in April urging governments to take concrete action to put them – “their inclusion, representation, rights, social and economic outcomes and protection – at the centre of all efforts to tackle and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UN: Women deserve equal status in society as they battle Covid-19 at the frontlines Read More »

WHO rejects “vaccine nationalism”, urges fair allocations of Covid-19 vaccine

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New York, August 18 – While giant pharmaceutical companies are competing to produce anti-Covid-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization called for an “equitable access and fair allocation” of the medicine to all those stricken by the virus around the world.

“We need to prevent vaccine nationalism,” said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a direct rebuke to the possible grab of the vaccines by any governments for their own people at the expenses of others.

“And for this reason, WHO is working with governments and the private sector to both accelerate the science, through the ACT-Accelerator, and ensure that new innovations are available to everyone, everywhere starting with those at highest risk.

“Since May, WHO has been in extensive consultations to develop a new framework to guide fair and equitable access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, for Covid-19 across all countries. These cross-cutting principles are key to the promotion of equitable access and fair allocation of these essential health products for the greatest impact globally.”

He said the allocation of vaccines will take place in two phases: (1) doses will be allocated proportionally to all participating countries simultaneously to reduce overall risk, which would cover the 20 percent of population most affected by Covid-19 in each country, and (2) doses will be allocated to individual countries depending on threat and vulnerability level. 

Front line workers in health and social care settings will have priority access to the vaccines  “as they are essential to treat and protect the population and come in close contact with high-mortality risk groups.” WHO said.

WHO urges governments to join COVAX Global Vaccines Facility, which is the mechanism for “joint procurement and pooling risk across multiple vaccines”, by August 31.

The possibility that some governments may monopolize vaccines has prompted Pope Francis to issue a statement at Vatican City supporting a fair distribution of vaccines to all those who need them.

“The pandemic is a crisis. You don’t come out of it the same — either better or worse,” Francis said. “We must come out better.”

“How sad it would be if for the Covid-19 vaccine priority is given to the richest,” he said.

“The pandemic has laid bare the difficult situation of the poor and the great inequality that reigns in the world,” the pope said.

“And the virus, while it doesn’t make exceptions among persons, has found in its path, devastating, great inequalities and discrimination,” Francis said, adding “and it has increased them”.

Infection cases and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic have continued to rise in what the World Health Organization (WHO) described as a once-in-a-century health crisis and warned that its destructive impacts will be felt for decades to come.

Total as of 15 August 2020.

Globally: 21,026,758 cases; 755,786 deaths

 Africa: 936,062 cases; 18,286 deaths 

 Americas: 11,271,215 cases; 410,483 deaths

Eastern Mediterranean: 1,710,272 cases; 45,361 deaths

Europe: 3,733,965 cases; 213,674 deaths


South-East Asia: 2,971,104 cases; 58,844 deaths

 Western Pacific: 403,399 cases; 9,125 deaths

Please follow this link for the daily situation report for COVID-19

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200815-covid-19-sitrep-208.pdf?sfvrsn=9dc4e959_2


“The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths. And some that had large outbreaks have brought them under control.”
The WHO chief made the remarks in a meeting of The Emergency Committee on COVID-19 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on July 31 as the total worldwide confirmed cases of infections reached 17,396,943 and 675,060 deaths.
The committee expressed in a statement its “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, and highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.”
The committee unanimously agreed following discussion and a review of evidence that the outbreak still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). It issued a range of recommendations to both WHO and member states and pledged support to maintain health services while accelerating the research and eventual access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Countries are urged to strengthen public health surveillance for case identification and contact tracing, including in low-resource, vulnerable, or high-risk settings and to maintain essential health services with sufficient funding, supplies, and human resources. Countries are advised to implement proportionate measures and advice on travel, based on risk assessments, and to review these measures regularly.
The committee’s statement, with further details of the meeting and their recommendations, is available here.


As of August 1, 2020, World total Covid-19 deaths: 675,060; confirmed cases of infection: 17,396,943.


Confirmed cases of infection:
Americas: 9,220,330
Europe: 3,357,465
Southeast Asia: 2,072,194
Eastern Mediterranean: 1,544,950
Africa: 788,448
Western Pacific: 312,771.

WHO rejects “vaccine nationalism”, urges fair allocations of Covid-19 vaccine Read More »

UN sets strict rules for annual meetings; blames Covid-19 for reinforcing inequalities

Leave a Comment / Climate, Environment, Health, News feature /

By J. Tuyet Nguyen


New York – The United Nations was supposed to mark its 75th anniversary this year with an elaborate forward looking program for more achievements and a brighter future. But it found instead that the coronavirus pandemic has mostly gutted progress made in areas like living standards and has worsened social injustice.

The UN was established on June 26, 1945 when victorious World War II allies and scores of governments signed the UN Charter in San Francisco.

The pandemic has severely upended scheduled UN meetings, one of which is the important annual UN General Assembly session taking place in September. Under normal times in the past 74 years the sessions were attended scrupulously by presidents, ministers and leaders of international organizations at UN headquarters in New York, packing the assembly hall that can have 2,000 delegates.

But the UN has told presidents and prime ministers to stay home this year when the session opens on September 21st. Each of the 193 countries that are UN members can send only one or if possible two delegates rather than a delegation of more than a dozen officials. All meetings will be held virtually, with pre-recorded speeches aired in a mostly empty General Assembly. Attendees will have to wear facial masks and keep social distancing.

“We have been brought to our knees – by a microscopic virus,” UN Secretary General Antonio said in a speech delivered remotely on July 18 to the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was titled “Tackling the inequality pandemic: A new social contract for a new era.”

“The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world. It has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities; environment degradation; the climate crisis.”

He said progress made in eradicating poverty and narrowing inequality have been set back years “in a matter of months,” warning that some 100 million more people could be pushed into extreme poverty because of the pandemic.

“The virus poses the greatest risk to the most vulnerable: those living in poverty, elder people and people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions,” he said, adding that coronavirus has shone the light on inequalities.

“Covid-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.”

“Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in super yachts while others are clinging to floating debris,” he said.

Latin America and the Caribbean

A policy brief on Latin America and the Caribbean issued by Guterres said the region has become a hotspot of the pandemic while it is torn with “profound inequalities” because of high levels of informal labor and fragmented health services. The brief said that the region will suffer a 9.1-percent contraction in gross domestic product (GDP), the largest in a century.

“The social impacts of pandemic will be felt acutely, with sharp rise in unemployment, poverty, extreme poverty and inequality,” it said.

The region, which has a total population of 230 million, will have more than 44 million unemployed people under the pandemic, 45 million people will live in poverty and 28 million in extreme poverty.
The brief said people disproportionately affected by the pandemic are indigenous and those of African descent because they live in “worse economic conditions and have limited access to social protection compared to the rest of the population, in addition to high levels of discrimination in the labour market.”

Pandemic disrupts 15-year UN Sustainable Development Goals

In another study issued in July the UN said its 15-year global efforts to improve the lives of people everywhere under the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were disrupted by the fast spreading coronavirus within a few months in the first part of 2020

The study said progress had been made to advance the goals even though it was not even and sufficient in areas such as improving maternal and child health, increasing women’s representation in government and access to electricity in developing countries.

“As Member States recognized at the SDG Summit held last September, global efforts to date have been insufficient to deliver the change we need, jeopardizing the agenda’s promise to current and future generations,” Guterres said. “Now, due to COVID-19, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of goals even more challenging.”

Other findings in the study said the over 1 billion people living in slums around the world are vulnerable to Covid-19 because of the lack of water, housing, shared toilets, crowded space and limited access to health care facilities.
It said women and children are among those suffering the most from the pandemic due to the disruption of health and vaccination services. School closure has kept 90 percent of the 1.57 billion students worldwide out of schools, causing millions of them to miss out school meals they depended on and health services provided schools.


Adopted in 2015, the SDGs targeted 17 goals to be achieved by 2030 with ending poverty at the top of the list. It is followed by hunger, maternal and child mortality, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work, reduction of inequalities, sustainable cities and responsible consumption.

UN sets strict rules for annual meetings; blames Covid-19 for reinforcing inequalities Read More »

UN: $10.3 billion needed to assist poor countries hit by coronavirus

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New York, July 17 – The United Nations said support by rich countries have been “grossly inadequate” and it urged the G20 to generously fund anti-coronavirus programs in poor and fragile countries or else an estimated 265 million people would starve and thousands of children would die from preventable diseases and Covid-19.

The UN updated its appeal for funding the anti-coronavirus fight to US$10.3 billion after it had received only $1.7 billion from its May’s appeal for $6.7 billion. The new request was sent to the G20 which groups 19 governments and the European Union and central bank governors. G20 is this year under Saudi Arabia’s presidency and it has been holding meetings throughout the year to discuss global issues.

The UN said the pandemic and economic downturn in some countries may cause an increase in global poverty for the first time since 1990, which would push 265 million to starvation and an estimated 6,000 children could die from diseases and Covid-19.

 “The pandemic and associated global recession are about to wreak havoc in fragile and low-income countries,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock.

 “The response of wealthy nations so far has been grossly inadequate and dangerously short-sighted. Failure to act now will leave the virus free to circle round the globe, undo decades of development and create a generation’s worth of tragic and exportable problems.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this – this is a problem that can be fixed with money from wealthy nations and fresh thinking from the shareholders of international financial institutions and supporters of UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and NGOs.”

By mi-July, more than 13 million people worldwide have been infected and more than 580,000 have been killed by coronavirus.

The UN said the new appeal for $10.3 billion is intended to bolster works by non-governmental organizations in the field, anti-famine and prevention of gender-based violence programs, and global transport and relief delivery systems in some 63 poor countries.

UN: $10.3 billion needed to assist poor countries hit by coronavirus Read More »

Covid-19 is making a bad situation worse

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Mothers, Newborns, Young Children and Adolescents
Lose 20% of Health and Social Services to COVID-19
“COVID-19 is making a bad situation worse.”

Monday July 13, 2020
The report in full is available for media preview at: https://bit.ly/2ZPuTfH
Post embargo at https://iapewec.org/reports/annual-reports/iap-2020-report/
Interviews with experts are available by phone or electronically.
Video B-roll: https://bit.ly/31UiRUX
Contacts:
Marshall Hoffman, marshall@hoffmanpr.com, +1-703-533-3535
UK: Juliet Heller, juliet@julietheller.co.uk, +44-16-2186-8083
Canada: Terry Collins, tc@tca.tc, +1-416-878-8712
Africa: Reuben Kyama, rkyama@gmail.com, +254 (0)722 739 765
Latin America: Liliana Hisas, liliana@hoffmanpr.com, +1-703-412-5787
Video: Nils Hoffman, nils@hoffmanpr.com, +1-703 967-1490

Mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents are losing 20 percent of their health and social services due to the COVID-19 pandemic says a Panel of senior global health experts.

“Health systems in both rich and poor nations are massively struggling and the services for mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents are crumbling,” says Elizabeth Mason, M.D, co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent reviewing the impact of COVID-19 on these groups.

“Especially worrisome are declines in access to life-saving vaccines for children and maternal health services due to closures and movement restrictions. Immunization campaigns are being halted and health workers are being diverted from maternity to COVID-19 units,” Dr. Mason adds.

The Panel provides an overview of estimated impacts from COVID-19 pandemic on mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents since its start in January.

  • 5.3 million deaths in children under 5 by pre-pandemic estimates, and over 400,000 additional deaths due to COVID-19-related disruptions in services.
  • 2.5 million newborn deaths pre-pandemic, with a minimum of 168,000 additional deaths estimated.
  • 295,000 maternal deaths pre-pandemic, with an additional 24,400 deaths estimated.
  • 13.5 million children missed vaccinations against life-threatening diseases.
  • More than 20 countries reported vaccine shortages caused by the pandemic.
  • Disruption to contraceptive supplies leading to 15 million unintended pregnancies in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Around 42-66 million children risk falling into extreme poverty.
  • Some 370 million children are missing school meals.
  • Women suffering increased depression, anxiety and uncertainty.
  • 15 million additional acts of violence against women and girls every three months of lockdown. In some countries, emergency calls increased by 30 percent.

“These new findings show how weak our health systems are at protecting mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents,” says Joy Phumaphi, co-chair of the Panel and former WHO Assistant Director-General. “We are at a point where decades of progress for this group could be easily reversed.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted steady progress and has led to increased poverty and unemployment. Early data finds women experience not only loss of various categories of support and social safety nets, but also an inability to access increased support, compared to men.

“COVID-19 is making a bad situation worse,” says Ms. Phumaphi, reflecting the conclusion of the Panel’s report (available from July 13 at iapewec.org).

“The lives’ of every mother, newborn, child and adolescent matter,” says Giorgi Pkhakadze, a professor of Epidemiology and Public Health. “Quality healthcare is not a luxury, but a life-saving resource.”

Since 2000, maternal and children under 5 deaths have been cut by 40 percent, because of focused leadership and investment, even in the poorest nations. Also, in the last decade, more than $50 billion has been raised through the Every Woman Every Child movement to meet the health and medical needs of this vulnerable group. Even the poorest countries have shown progress, especially in reducing under 5 mortality.

The Scorecard

To understand and analyze the basic needs and gaps for mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents by country, the Panel has created a Scorecard for 193 nations, by income category, of seven key indicators (see the full Scorecard at https://bit.ly/38xi4KJ):

  • Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births)
  • Stillbirth rate (per 1,000 total births)
  • Neonatal mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)
  • Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)
  • Adolescent mortality rate (per 100, 000 population)
  • Birth registration (proportion of children under 5 years with civil authority registered births)
  • Death registration (completeness of cause-of-death data)

Each indicator for the 193 countries is colour-coded to depict a country’s current status relative to global/country targets: dark green for surpassed, light green for advanced, yellow for intermediate, and red for catching-up countries.

“The colour-coding makes it easy to pick out the countries where mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents are thriving and countries where they need help,” says Dr. Nicholas Alipui, M.D., a visiting scholar at Yale University and former UNICEF Director of Programmes.

Countries shown in dark green (surpassed in all seven categories): Finland, Iceland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Japan, Norway, Estonia Sweden, Italy, Spain, Czechia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Israel, Portugal, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Denmark, United Kingdom, Hungary, Poland, Greece, Croatia, Canada, Slovakia, Malta, Bahrain, Belarus, Cuba, Republic of North Macedonia.

Countries shown in dark green (surpassed global targets – except for a light green, advanced ranking for adolescent deaths): Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, United States, Uruguay, Seychelles, Bulgaria, Russian Federation, Romania, Costa Rica, Georgia, Kazakhstan

Countries that are shown mainly in red (catching up): Mauritania, Cameroon, Angola, Lesotho, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia.

The gap between rich and poor countries is huge. For example: Under 5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): Finland -1.7, Iceland and San Marino -2, Slovenia 2.1, Cyprus and Luxembourg -2.4, and Japan -2.5. That compares to the Central African Republic -116.5, Chad -119, Nigeria -119.9, and Somalia -121.5.

On maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births): Norway, Italy, Poland and Belarus – 2, Finland, Czechia, Greece and United Arab Emirates -3. That compares to Nigeria – 917, Sierra Leone -1,120, Chad -1,140 and South Sudan -1,150.

Ethnic minority communities even in the wealthiest countries have large disparities of both morbidity and mortality. A number of factors create disparities: racism, low wages, limited opportunities, and poor education. This exacerbates poor health, lack of access to health, water and sanitation.

Women, children and adolescents in countries with access to similar economic resources sometimes experience different health outcomes. For example, the United States spends more than twice as much on health than either Japan or France, yet children in the US are more likely to die before their 5th birthday and women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth.

Another example: Nigeria spends around 74 USD per capita on health, compared to 34 USD in Tanzania. However, Nigeria has more than double the child mortality rate compared to Tanzania, 120 and 53 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively. This reflects significant inequalities and other disparities.

“Critical gaps in quality health service delivery and financial protection require urgent remedy and action,” says Dr. Alipui. “These gaps are found between countries and within countries.”

Losing ground

Besides the loss of services due to the pandemic, IAP has found that globally implementation is 20 percent behind on the UN’s 2030 goals (Every Woman Every Child – the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health 2016-2030) to reduce preventable deaths for mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents.

The UN goals include:

  • Maternal deaths- a global decline to less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births.
  • Newborn deaths- each country reduces to at least as low as 12 deaths per 1000 live births.
  • Children under 5 deaths – each country reduces to at least as low as 25 deaths per 1000 births.

More than 190 countries have agreed to these targets.

The IAP’s 2020 report, published this week, calls for leaders to fulfill their commitments and lays out the action needed to get back on track. Commitments to universal health coverage, primary health care, International Health Regulations and sustainable development, were urgently needed before the pandemic. Now with COVID-19, they are even more important.

About 2 USD trillion a year lost due to inefficiencies, corruption and waste
Besides the 20 percent deficit, the Panel found that 2 trillion USD a year is lost to health expenditures, due to inefficiencies, corruption and waste.

“How money is spent is every bit as important as how much is spent to improve health and socioeconomic benefits,” points out Ms. Phumaphi. “The key is full accountability which connects commitment to progress.”

“A key element to sustainable progress is strong citizen voices which advocate for full accountability at all levels, community, state and national,” says Dr. Alipui.

“Mass protests clamouring for racial justice in both health and policing in the United States and around the globe have laid bare how central accountability is to achieving justice and a fairer world,” explains Alicia Ely Yamin, LLD and a senior fellow in global health and rights at Harvard Law School.

The seven big “Lacks”

There are still a host of basic problems blocking advancement of the health of mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents. These “lacks” relate to commitments that world leaders have made at the highest level. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, High-level Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage and the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy are examples of commitments at the highest level, and yet these gaps persist.

  1. Health workers. The world needs an additional 18 million health workers.
  2. Health Data. Data emerging from countries on COVID-19 has been incomplete.
    Estimates and projections based on modeling to assess country risks and progress on COVID-19 and the health of mothers, newborns, young children and adolescents vary widely. Thus, outcomes end up patchy. The lack of relevant and accurate data constrains governments’ abilities to make informed decisions to ensure people’s health and wellbeing of this vulnerable group.
    Often, simple information has not been collected. Globally, one in 4 births of children under five are not registered with a civil authority; only 93 out of 193 countries are currently able to register more than 80 percent of adult deaths.
  3. Accountability. Accountability is a must-have, not a nice-to-have. It must be permanently embedded so that every leader and every government is obliged to do what they have committed to do. Private sector and development partners should ‘do no harm’ and provide assistance and technical cooperation to help countries make progress on health targets. Citizens need to participate fully and voice their experiences.
    “Accountability connects commitments to progress in a justifiable and constructive way,” says Shyama Kuruvilla, Ph.D. who directs the Panel’s secretariat. “As the Panel’s report shows, accountability is critical to accelerate improvement.”
    For the accountability cycle to work, a formal, institutionalized relationship is needed between the monitoring, review and recommendations, and the remedy and action that follows.
    By investing in institutionalizing accountability processes, countries can increase their capacity to apply lessons rapidly and effectively during and after events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and to rectify and remedy problems.
  4. Underinvestment in common goods for health. Common goods for health (such as for legislation and regulation, health surveillance and information, population services, and communication) form the foundation for strong health systems that are resilient and responsive, not only to population health needs but also to emergencies. The lack of these critical investments in public goods for health, both national and international, have shown up in the fault lines of the COVID-19 response with millions of people’s lives, health and livelihoods put at risk, especially mothers, newborns, young child and adolescents.
  5. Universal Health Coverage and Primary Health Care. On the path to universal health coverage (quality health services and financial protection), only between one-third and one-half of the world’s population were covered by the essential health services they need, including interventions for women, children and adolescents. More than 900 million people experienced catastrophic health expenditure last year. One of the smartest investments that countries can make is in primary health care. Investing an additional 200 billion USD a year on scaling up primary health care across low- and middle-income countries could save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3.7 years by 2030 and contribute significantly to socio-economic development.
  6. Progress across other sectors, e.g. water, sanitation and hygiene. From 2000 to 2017, the population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 28 percent to 45 percent. Though 60 percent of the global population has basic hand-washing facilities with soap and water available at home, 3 billion people still lack such facilities and 1.4 billion had no facilities at all. The United Nations warns that the risk of disruption to these services from lockdowns endangers health, especially from waterborne diseases, and the containment of COVID-19.
  7. Inequities are a critical concern. There are gaping gaps between rich and poor, and racial discrimination, geographical and other factors limit access to services. Capital regions often have higher coverage of basic health and multisectoral services than other sub-regions demonstrating sub-national inequalities. Inequities will worsen from the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by lack of financial and social protection, and the most vulnerable, including women, children and adolescents would be hardest hit.

Accountability: Connecting commitment to progress -in a justifiable and constructive way

The IAP sets out an accountability framework with four pillars: Commit, Justify, Implement, Progress. Every single one of these pillars must be present for effective accountability -if just one of them is missing, the whole structure falls:

Commit: all those who have commitments and a responsibility to act should be clear on and commit to their roles and obligations towards achieving agreed goals and rights.

Justify: decisions and actions related to commitments must be supported and explained on the basis of evidence, rights and the rule of law.

Implement: core accountability functions of Monitor-Review-Remedy-Act should be institutionalized and implemented.

Progress: continuous progress towards agreed goals and rights should be ensured, justifying any reversals – this is the human rights principle of ‘progressive realization.’

Terry Collins & Assoc. | www.tca.tc | @TerryCollinsTC | LinkedIn.com/in/terrycollins, Toronto, M6R1L8 Canada

Covid-19 is making a bad situation worse Read More »

Global E-waste Surging: Up 21% in 5 Years

Leave a Comment / Climate, Ecology, Environment, Featured, Health, News, Technology /

A record 53.6 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste was produced globally in 2019,
the weight of 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2;
$57 billion in gold and other components discarded – mostly dumped or burned

(Released from Bonn, Geneva, Vienna, London and Toronto
July 2, 2020
The report in full, including regional e-waste breakdowns, is available for media preview at https://bit.ly/3dFDZQQ
Post-embargo at: www.globalewaste.org
Video, photos, graphics, backgrounders: https://bit.ly/2AapxCI
Lead contact: Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712, tc@tca.tc )

A record 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019, up 21 per cent in just five years, according to the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020.

The new report also predicts global e-waste — discarded products with a battery or plug — will reach 74 Mt by 2030, almost a doubling of e-waste in just 16 years. This makes e-waste the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream, fueled mainly by higher consumption rates of electric and electronic equipment, short life cycles, and few options for repair.

Only 17.4 per cent of 2019’s e-waste was collected and recycled. This means that gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high-value, recoverable materials conservatively valued at US $57 billion — a sum greater than the Gross Domestic Product of most countries – were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse.

According to the report, Asia generated the greatest volume of e-waste in 2019, some 24.9 Mt, followed by the Americas (13.1 Mt) and Europe (12 Mt), while Africa and Oceania generated 2.9 Mt and 0.7 Mt respectively.

For perspective, last year’s e-waste weighed substantially more than all the adults in Europe, or as much as 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2, enough to form a line 125 km long.

E-waste is a health and environmental hazard, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain and / or coordination system.

Other key findings from the Global E-waste Monitor 2020:
• Proper e-waste management can help mitigate global warming. In 2019, an estimated 98 Mt of CO2-equivalents were released into the atmosphere from discarded fridges and air-conditioners, contributing roughly 0.3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions
• In per capita terms, last year’s discarded e-waste averaged 7.3 kg for every man, woman and child on Earth
• Europe ranked first worldwide in terms of e-waste generation per capita with 16.2 kg per capita. Oceania came second (16.1 kg) followed by the Americas (13.3 kg). Asia and Africa were much lower: 5.6 and 2.5 kg respectively
• E-waste is a health and environmental hazard, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain and / or coordination system. An estimated 50 tonnes of mercury – used in monitors, PCBs and fluorescent and energy-saving light sources – are contained in undocumented flows of e-waste annually
• E-waste in 2019 was mainly comprised of small equipment (17.4 Mt), large equipment (13.1 Mt), and temperature exchange equipment (10.8 Mt). Screens and monitors, lamps, small IT, and telecommunication equipment represented 6.7 Mt, 4.7 Mt, and 0.9 Mt respectively
• Since 2014 the e-waste categories increasing fastest in total weight terms: temperature exchange equipment (+7 per cent), large equipment (+5 per cent), lamps and small equipment (+4 per cent). According to the report, this trend is driven by the growing consumption of those products in lower income countries, where those products improve the living standards. Small IT and telecommunication equipment have been growing more slowly, and screens and monitors have shown a slight decrease (-1 per cent), explained largely by lighter flat panel displays replacing heavy CRT monitors and screens

• Since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy, legislation or regulation in place has increased from 61 to 78. While a positive trend, this is far from the target set by the International Telecommunication Union which is to raise the percentage of countries with an e-waste legislation to 50 per cent

The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 (www.globalewaste.org) is a collaborative product of the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), formed by UN University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), in close collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The World Health Organization (WHO) and the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) also substantially contributed to this year’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020.

Comments

“The findings of this year’s UNU-affiliated Global E-waste Monitor suggest that humanity is not sufficiently implementing the SDGs. Substantially greater efforts are urgently required to ensure smarter and more sustainable global production, consumption, and disposal of electrical and electronic equipment. This report contributes mightily to the sense of urgency in turning around this dangerous global pattern.”

  • David M. Malone, Rector United Nations University (UNU) & UN Under Secretary General

“Far more electronic waste is generated than is being safely recycled in most parts of the world. More cooperative efforts are required to make aware of this increasing issue and take appropriate countermeasures supplement by appropriate research and training. I am pleased that UNITAR now joins this important Global E-waste Statistics Partnership of UNU, ITU and ISWA, illustrating how valuable these activities are.”

  • Nikhil Seth, Executive Director, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) & UN Assistant Secretary-General

”The Global E-waste Monitor highlights the pressing issue of e-waste management in today’s digitally connected world in that the way we produce, consume, and dispose of electronic devices has become unsustainable. Monitoring e-waste streams will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and tracking the implementation of the ITU Connect 2030 Agenda. The Monitor serves as a valuable resource for governments to improve their global e-waste recycling rate by developing the necessary/needed/required e-waste policies and legislation. ITU will continue to support the efforts made in this report towards the global response required in identifying solutions for e-waste.”

  • Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

“E-waste quantities are rising 3 times faster than the world’s population and 13 per cent faster than the world’s GDP during the last five years. This sharp rise creates substantial environmental and health pressures and demonstrates the urgency to combine the fourth industrial revolution with circular economy. The fourth industrial revolution either will advance a new circular economy approach for our economies or it will stimulate further resource depletion and new pollution waves. The progress achieved in e-waste monitoring by the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership is a sign of hope that the world can manage not only to monitor closely the e-waste rise but also to control their impacts and set up proper management schemes”

  • Antonis Mavropoulos, President, International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

“Informal and improper e-waste recycling is a major emerging hazard silently affecting our health and that of future generations. One in four children are dying from avoidable environmental exposures. One in four children could be saved, if we take action to protect their health and ensure a safe environment. WHO is pleased to join forces in this new Global E-waste Monitor to allow evidence, information about health impacts and joint solutions and policies to be made available to protect our future generations’ health.”

  • Maria Neira, Director, Environment, Climate Change and Health Department, World Health Organization (WHO)

Join the conversation on social media using hashtag #eWaste

Media contacts:
• Terry Collins, +1 416 878 8712; tc@tca.tc
• Ruediger Kuehr, Director UNU-ViE SCYCLE, +49 228 815 0213/4, kuehr@vie.unu.edu
• Monika Gehner, Head Strategic Communication Division, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Phone: +41 22 730 5459, Press line: +41 22 730 6039, E-mail: pressinfo@itu.int
• Georgiana Olivier, Communications Manager, International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), +31 636 06 41 83, golivier@iswa.org

About the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP)

The GESP helps countries compile useful national policy-making statistics using an internationally-recognized harmonized measurement framework. The GESP convenes policy makers, statisticians, and industry representatives to enhance the quality, and their understanding and interpretation of e-waste data. At the global level, the GESP contributes to the monitoring of relevant waste streams, measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals 11.6, 12.4 and 12.5. The GESP allows international organizations, such as the ITU, to measure progress towards their goals. In 2018, the ITU established a target to increase the global e-waste recycling rate to 30 per cent by 2023 – a 12.6 per cent increase from today’s global average.

About the United Nations University (UNU)

UNU is an autonomous organ of the UN General Assembly dedicated to generating and transferring knowledge and strengthening capacities relevant to global issues of human security, development, and welfare. The University operates through a worldwide network of research and training centres and programmes, coordinated by UNU Centre in Tokyo.

The Bonn, Germany-based Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) Programme, co-hosted by UNU’s Vice Rectorate in Europe and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), provides world-class research and action on e-waste. SCYCLE aims to enable societies to reduce the environmental burden caused by the production, consumption and disposal of ubiquitous goods.

About the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the specialized United Nations agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving innovation in ICTs together with 193 Member States and a membership of over 900 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. Established over 150 years ago in 1865, ITU is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, improving communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. From broadband networks to cutting-edge wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, oceanographic and satellite-based earth monitoring as well as converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world. For more information, visit: www.itu.int.

About the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

As a dedicated training arm of the United Nations System, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) provides innovative learning solutions to individuals, organizations and institutions to enhance global decision-making and support country-level action for shaping a better future. UNITAR was created in 1963 to train and equip young diplomats from newly-independent UN Member States with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate through the diplomatic environment. Over the years, UNITAR has acquired unique expertise and experience in designing and delivering a variety of training activities. We have become a leading institute in the provision of customized and creative learning solutions to institutions and individuals from both public and private sectors. With a strategy fully focused on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNITAR supports Governments to implement the 2030 Agenda.

About the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) is a global, independent and non-profit making association, working in the public interest promoting sustainable, comprehensive and professional waste management and the transition to a circular economy. ISWA is open to individuals and organisations from the scientific community, public institutions as well as and public and private companies from all over the world working in the field of or interested in waste management. ISWA is the only worldwide waste association that enables its members to network with professionals, companies and institutional representatives.

Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Terry Collins & Assoc., Twitter: @TerryCollinsTC, www.tca.tc, 295 Wright Ave., Toronto, Ontario M6R1L8 Canada
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