Madrid/New York – The year 2020 saw the collapse of international tourism after lockdowns and strict travel bans were imposed worldwide to fight the spread of Covid-19 virus. Vaccine rollouts this year give hopes that tourism would bounce back but the most optimistic scenarios by the UN World Tourism Organization say it would take until 2024 or later for a return to 2019 tourism levels.
The UN organization headquartered in Madrid updated its quarterly World Tourism Barometer in January 2021 and found that global tourism suffered the greatest crisis on record in 2020 during which the pandemic inflicted unprecedented health, social and economic emergency.
It said international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) plunged by 74 per cent in 2020 over the previous year, or about 1 billion fewer arrivals, representing an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in export revenues, which was more than 11 times the economic losses recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis.
“While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over,” said Zurab Pololikashvili, the UNWTO secretary-general. “The harmonization, coordination and digitalization of Covid-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow.”
The collapse in international travels put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk, many of them in small and medium-sized enterprises.
January and February 2021 have seen health conditions worsening in many parts of the world and governments have had to re-impose stricter travel restrictions, mandatory Covid-19 tests, quarantine and border closure.
Surveys conducted by WTO showed prospects for a rebound in touristic activities in 2021 were not possible because of the continuing health crisis and half of respondents to the surveys expected the rebound to happen in 2022 as compared to 21 per cent in October 2020. When tourism does restart, the WTO Panel of Experts foresee growing demand for open-air and nature-based tourism activities, with domestic tourism and ‘slow travel’ experiences gaining increasing interest.
“Looking further ahead, most experts do not to see a return to pre-pandemic levels happening before 2023. In fact, 43 per cent of respondents point to 2023, while 41 per cent expect a return to 2019 levels will only happen in 2024 or later. WTO’s extended scenarios for 2021-2024 indicate that it could take two-and-a-half to four years for international tourism to return to 2019 levels.”
The organization said its World Tourism Barometer “monitors short-term tourism trends on a regular basis to provide global tourism stakeholders with up-to-date analysis on international tourism.”
It found that Asia and the Pacific suffered an 84-per-cent decline in tourism and was “the first region to suffer the impact of the pandemic and the one with the highest level of travel restrictions currently in place – recorded the largest decrease in arrivals in 2020 (300 million fewer).”
The Middle East and Africa both recorded a 75-per-cent decline.
It said Europe recorded a 70-per-cent decrease in arrivals, “despite a small and short-lived revival in the summer of 2020. The region suffered the largest drop in absolute terms, with over 500 million fewer international tourists in 2020.”
The Americas saw a 69-per-cent decrease in international arrivals, following somewhat better results in the last quarter of the year.
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Geneva/New York, February 9 – A team of experts from 10 countries sent by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 virus in Wuhan, China, said the virus may have originated from animals and transmitted to humans.
The team said at the close of a four-week probe in Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak started in early 2020, said it was unlikely that the virus had leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
“Our initial findings suggest that the introduction through an intermediary host species is the most likely pathway and one that will require more studies and more specific targeted research,” Peter Ben Embarek, an expert at WHO food safety and animal diseases, said at a conference in Wuhan attended by WHO and Chinese experts.
“However, the findings suggest that the laboratory incidents hypothesis is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus to the human population” and will not be suggested as an avenue of future study, Embarek said.
The WHO said its team conducting the Global Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2 in China worked with Chinese scientist and health colleagues and they had finished their work. The team’s report would be published once it is completed.
The press conference was led Dr Liang Wannian, Chinese team lead and Executive Vice Dean of school of public health at Tsinghua, Dr Peter Ben Embarek, WHO International Team Lead, Professor Marion Koopmans, member of the WHO international team and Head, Department of Viroscience, University of Rotterdam and Mi Feng, National Health Commission of China, spokesperson.
In Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhamon Ghebreyesus told a meeting of WHO anti-Covid-19 programs known as ACT Accelerator and COVAX Facility that the world is at a “critical juncture” as it continues to fight the coronavirus with vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to bring the virus under control.
“International collaboration is increasingly fragmented and inequities are increasing,” he said.
“More than 90 per cent of countries now rolling out vaccines are wealthy. Seventy-five percent of the 130 million deployed doses have been in only ten countries. Meanwhile, almost 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, have yet to administer a single dose.”
“Many of these countries are also struggling to secure the resources for testing, personal protective equipment, oxygen, and medicines,” he said. “The ACT Accelerator and COVAX Facility were created to increase equity. But with every passing day, that goal is at risk.”
He called on governments and donors to fully finance the programs as there is still a financing gap of $27 billion for 2021 and warned that the longer the gap the harder it will become to meet targets to provide vaccines to low-income countries. He said the financing request by WHO is “tiny” compared with the trillions of dollars mobilized for stimulus packages in G20 countries.
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Geneva/New York, January 26 – Learning from the harsh realities inflicted by the pandemic, some world leaders gave strong support to multilateralism as a way to deal with global crises as they contributed ideas and visions for the future to the virtual meeting of the Davos Agenda 2021.
“This is the hour of multilateralism,” said Angela Merkel, the Federal Chancellor of Germany, urging support for the global campaign of vaccination against Covid-19, for transparency, international organizations and for building resilience among nations.
Speaking on the second day of the Davos Agenda 2021, Merkel welcomed US President Joe Biden’s decision to retain the US membership in the World Health Organization. Several other top leaders of governments and international organizations also lauded Biden for promptly claiming back the WHO seat and reversing former President Donald Trump’s decision to exit WHO.
“If we want to have multilateral agreements, common standards have to be put down as regards conditions of work and the environment. We have to be very fast at finding new answers to digitalization,” she said. “We need to address global monopolies, but going it alone won’t suffice to address them.”
“The vaccine shows we can find a way out of this pandemic, but it will be much harder than we think,” she said.
Merkel pushed back calls for Europe to take sides between the United States and China in a move that she appeared to agree with Chinese President Xi Jinping who addressed the Davos Agenda 2021 the day earlier.
“I would very much wish to avoid the building of blocs,” Merkel said. “I don’t think it would do justice to many societies if we were to say this is the United States and over there is China and we are grouping around either the one or the other. This is not my understanding of how things ought to be.”
“The Chinese president spoke yesterday, and he and I agree on that. We see a need for multilateralism.”
“But there is one question where we are not in immediate agreement. Probably the question of what it means when you have different social models. When does interference begin and where does it end? When do you stand up for elementary values that are indivisible?” she said.
The Chinese leader warned the US president not to nudge Europe into an alliance against Beijing, saying that any attempt to freeze China out of global trade and technology networks risked reigniting the Cold War.
“Forming small groups or launching new cold wars on the world stage; excluding, threatening and intimidating others; resorting to decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions would only push the world towards division, if not confrontation,” Xi said.
“Repeatedly, history and the reality reminded us that, if we walk down the path of confrontation — be it a cold war, a hot war, a trade war or a tech war — all countries are going to suffer in terms of their interests and their people’s well-being.”
SG speaks at SC stakeout on the situation in Syria
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who addressed the forum at its opening, said 2021 offered the world the opportunity for an inclusive recovery from the pandemic while also tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.
“We have reached a moment of truth. In 2021 we must address these fragilities and put the world on track”, he said.
“It is time to change course and take the sustainable path. And, this year, we have a unique opportunity to do so. We can use our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic to move from fragilities to resilience.”
“Inclusive and sustainable recovery around the globe will depend on the availability and effectiveness of vaccines for all, immediate fiscal and monetary support in both developed and developing countries, and transformative longer-term stimulus measures”, he said.
Top leaders from scores of governments, international organizations and corporations were invited to hold the virtual January 25-29 debate known as the Davos Agenda 2021 to try to rebuild trust while the world is struggling to stamp out Covid-19 that has killed over 2 million people in the past 12 months.
Organized by the World Economic Forum, the Davos Agenda 2021 under the theme “A crucial Year to Rebuild Trust,” is expected to gather the world’s foremost leaders to address the economic, environmental, social and technological challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems have been growing stronger around the world,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
“Rebuilding trust and increasing global cooperation are crucial to fostering innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery. This unique meeting will be an opportunity for leaders to outline their vision and address the most important issues of our time, such as the need to accelerate job creation and to protect the environment.”
The five-day program themes are:
–Designing cohesive, sustainable, resilient economic systems (25 January)
–Driving responsible industry transformation and growth (26 January)
–Enhancing stewardship of the global commons (27 January)
–Harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (28 January)
–Advancing global and regional cooperation (29 January)
Organizers said more than 1,500 business, government and civil society leaders from over 70 countries “will set the agenda for a critical year ahead and discuss how to catalyse impact in the rapidly advancing Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The conclusions from the Davos Agenda week will feed into task forces working on global issues for the upcoming Special Annual Meeting in Singapore.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO) and Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) are among the heads of international organizations who will address the forum
WEF said the Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. These advances are merging the physical, digital and biological worlds in ways that create both huge promise and potential peril.
It said the pandemic has “demonstrated that no institution or individual alone can address the economic, environmental, social and technological challenges of our complex, interdependent world. The pandemic has accelerated systemic changes that were apparent before its inception. The fault lines that emerged in 2020 now appear as critical crossroads in 2021. The Davos Agenda will help leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.”
New York, January 8 – A year-long United Nations-led campaign of survey and dialogues involving more than 1.5 million respondents in 193 countries showed that a majority of them are supporting international cooperation to resolve global problems from heath to climate issues.
The UN said its consultations around the world resulted in a good response as people shared their short- and long-term priorities, their ideas for action and calls for a more inclusive, transparent UN to deal with pressing global challenges. They also showed optimism for a better future in the midst of the pandemic.
The survey was made public under the title, “Shaping our future together: key findings of UN75 survey and dialogues.” It was launched by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in January 2020 as he sought to provide an opportunity to listen to people and to allow them to share their hopes and fears for the future and to discuss who they expected to work together to address the challenges.
“The UN75 global consultation showed that 97 percent of respondents support international cooperation to tackle global challenges,“ Guterres said. “That represents a very strong commitment to multilateralism, and to the mission of the United Nations. Now it is up to us – Member States and the UN Secretariat – to meet the expectations of the people we serve.”
The survey said a majority of respondents (52 per cent) believe that international cooperation is essential for addressing global challenges, while 34 per cent believe it is very important, and 11 per cent believe it is fairly important. Only 3 per cent believe international cooperation is not important or not important at all.
The highest percentage of respondents supporting international cooperation are from North America and from higher human development countries who believe more in international cooperation than those in lower human development countries.
The report said respondents look to the UN to “lead in international cooperation to address immediate and longer-term global challenges, and many also want the organization to innovate – to be more inclusive, engaged, accountable and effective. “
The respondents strongly favor the UN to provide:
· Moral leadership.
· A reformed, more representative and more agile UN Security Council.
· A revised Charter that includes today’s most pressing global challenges, like climate change.
· Continued management and leadership reforms, including more inclusive hiring practices,
more accountability and more transparency.
· An inclusive and participatory UN system, with improved understanding of the work of the
UN among citizens around the world, and which shows more care for the needs of ordinary
people.
· Improved implementation, monitoring and evaluation of UN programmes globally, to more
effectively solve international problems.
Key findings from the UN75 survey and dialogues include (as provided by the UN):
As COVID-19 reversed progress in human development and widened inequalities, many
prioritized access to basic services and support to the hardest hit places and communities in
the short-term
· Amid a striking shortfall in healthcare to meet the needs generated by the pandemic,
respondents’ top immediate, short-term priority globally was ‘Universal access to healthcare’.
· As COVID-19 forced children out of schools around the world, ‘More investment in education
and youth programmes’ ranked high among respondents, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa
and Central and Southern Asia.
· Reflecting the stark reality that three billion people lack a basic hand-washing facility with soap
and water at home, ‘Access to safe water and sanitation’ was another critical immediate
priority for respondents during the pandemic, across all human development levels.
· Many respondents, especially in low and middle income countries, prioritized ‘Global
solidarity’ and the need to provide ‘Support to the hardest hit people and communities’, and
to ‘Address inequalities that have deepened as a result of COVID-19.’
· Less respondents in Very High Human Development countries viewed ‘Support to the hardest
hit places’ as a high priority.
Respondents living in lower human development countries and those living in conflict
situations tended to express greater optimism about the future
· Globally, many more respondents believed people will be better off (49%) in 2045 than today,
compared with those who believe people will be worse off (32%).
· Respondents in Sub-Saharan Africa were the most optimistic about the future (59%), followed
by Central and Southern Asia (52%), and Eastern and South-eastern Asia (51%). Respondents
in Northern America (49%), Europe (48%), Latin America and the Caribbean (48%) and Oceania
and Antarctica (47%) were most pessimistic about the future.
· Respondents in regions with lower human development countries were far more optimistic
about the future than respondents in regions with higher human development countries.
Respondents living in conflict situations were more optimistic about the future.
While they expect access to health services to improve over the next 25 years, respondents in
all regions identified climate change and environmental issues as the number one long-term
global challenge
· ‘More environmental protection’ is the number one long-term priority for respondents,
globally, ranking in the top three priorities across all regions.
· The highest percentages of respondents who chose ‘Climate change and the environment’ as
a top threat were in Latin America and the Caribbean (73%), while the lowest was is Sub- Saharan Africa (37%).
Other longer-term priorities vary according to income levels, but include rising concern with
employment opportunities, respect for human rights and reducing conflict
· While respondents in UNDP’s category of higher human development countries tended to give
the highest priority to the environment and human rights, those in lower human development
countries tended to accord the highest priority to less conflict and meeting basic needs, such
as employment, healthcare and education.
· ‘More respect for human rights’ ranked number three globally as a long-term priority. It
ranked number one in Northern Africa and Western Asia and number two in Northern
America and Europe.
· ‘More employment opportunities’ rose from the tenth long-term priority identified by
respondents in April 2020 to the sixth priority in December 2020. This may reflect the
dramatic COVID-19 related workplace closures, working-hour and labour income losses.
· Reducing conflict is a high priority among respondents in Eastern and South-eastern Asia,
Northern Africa and Western Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
· While respondents in countries that are not in conflict are more concerned about tensions
between countries, those in conflict situations are more concerned about violence within their
borders.
97% of respondents believe that international cooperation is important for addressing global
challenges, with variation in the degree of importance across regions
· The majority of respondents believe that international cooperation is essential (52%) for
addressing global challenges, while 34% believe it is very important, and 11% believe it is
fairly important. Only 3% of respondents believe international cooperation is not important
or not important at all.
· The degree of importance of international cooperation varies across regions, with the highest
percentage of respondents who viewed it favorably from Northern America.
· Respondents in higher human development countries tend to perceive the need for
international cooperation as greater than those in lower human development countries.
· A majority of respondents globally say that COVID-19 has increased their view of the
importance for greater cooperation between countries.
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Paris/New York – China waited for 12 years after applying for UNESCO’s World Heritage list for its centuries-old martial art familiarly known as tai chi worldwide and finally was accepted without much fanfare except for the connoisseurs of the physical exercise recognized by health authorities.
The decision on December 18 by the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization put tai chi on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. China, with at least 50 UNESCO World Heritage sites, belongs to a handful of countries that have the highest number of such sites. Other countries are France, Germany, Italy, India, Mexico and Spain.
Here is what UNESCO said about tai chi:
“Taijiquan is a traditional physical practice characterized by relaxed, circular movements that works in concert with breath regulation and the cultivation of a righteous and neutral mind. Originating during the mid-seventeenth century in Wenxian County in the Henan Province of central China, the element is now practiced throughout the country by people of all ages and by different ethnic groups.
Taijiquan’s basic movements center upon wubu (five steps) and bafa (eight techniques) with a series of routines, exercises and tuishou (hand-pushing skills performed with a counterpart). Influenced by Daoist and Confucian thought and theories of traditional Chinese medicine, the element has developed into several schools (or styles) named after a clan or a master’s personal name. The element is passed down through clan-based transmission or the master-apprentice model. The latter relationship is established through the traditional ceremony of baishi. Taijiquan has also been incorporated into the formal education system. The element builds upon the yin and yang cycle and the cultural understanding of the unity of heaven and humanity. It has been disseminated through legends, proverbs and rituals, among other vehicles of expression. Safeguarding the element would increase its visibility and dialogue about the diverse ways Taijiquan is practiced by different communities.”
There are an estimated 300 million tai chi practitioners globally. Organizers of tai chi events always delighted at bringing thousands of people together to demonstrate their skills.
Tai chi has a lengthy list of followers, from world models to athletes. But Chinese martial art experts and movie actors like Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan are the biggest promoters of the martial art in movies and educational programs.
Xinhua News Agency said China originally applied in 2008 and was rejected because it was seeking to list Shaolin kung fu, Peking opera and acupuncture in addition to tai chi. UNESCO then limited two requests per year for each country for cultural heritage sites and China revised its applications accordingly. It was reported that China successfully applied in 2011 for Chinese shadow puppetry and in 2013 for Chinese zhusuan, or abacus-based mental calculation.
“Taijiquan is not just a sport to make people fit, but also contains Chinese culture and philosophy,” researcher Yan Shuangjun told Xinhua News Agency. “The application started in 2008, and now we made a victory, which will help this sport to reach more places.”
Xinhua said tai chi has a massive, devoted global following. Millions of elderly Chinese people practice it every day in city parks, and celebrities and other public figures regularly make public references to their practice of it for the health benefits it is said to provide.
According to the Mayo Clinic in the United States, doing tai chi can reduce stress, anxiety and depression, improve aerobic capacity, energy and stamina, enhance the immune system and relieve joint pain.
Xinhua said tai chi originated in the village of Chenjiagou, in central China’s Henan province, in the mid-17th century.
Yoga was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.
In 2014 the United Nations proclaimed 21 June as International Yoga Day as the discipline is being followed by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
UNESCO said describes yoga as “The philosophy behind the ancient Indian practice of yoga has influenced various aspects of how society in India functions, whether it be in relation to areas such as health and medicine or education and the arts. Based on unifying the mind with the body and soul to allow for greater mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing, the values of yoga form a major part of the community’s ethos. Yoga consists of a series of poses, meditation, controlled breathing, word chanting and other techniques designed to help individuals build self-realization, ease any suffering they may be experiencing and allow for a state of liberation. It is practiced by the young and old without discriminating against gender, class or religion and has also become popular in other parts of the world. Traditionally, yoga was transmitted using the Guru-Shishya model (master-pupil) with yoga gurus as the main custodians of associated knowledge and skills. Nowadays, yoga ashrams or hermitages provide enthusiasts with additional opportunities to learn about the traditional practice, as well as schools, universities, community centers and social media. Ancient manuscripts and scriptures are also used in the teaching and practice of yoga, and a vast range of modern literature on the subject available.”
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Funding secured to recover health and social services lost to COVID-19
Pledges (please see detailed information below):
* Afghanistan – $176.6 million
* India – $2 billion
* Kenya – $2.2 billion
* Liberia – $10.65 million
* Nigeria – $2.3 billion
* Canada: $2.89 billion
* Germany – $5.3 billion
* Sida (Sweden) – $ 165.67 million
* United Kingdom – Up to $1.7 billion
* United States of America – $1.3 billion
* The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – $1.75 billion
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening three decades of improvement in health and social services for women, newborns, children and adolescents.
The well-being of this vulnerable group is being more affected than others due to disruptions to essential health, nutrition and social services since the pandemic, according to senior health experts at The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), a global alliance of more than 1,000 organizations, hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In a huge effort to restore crumbling services for women, newborns, children and adolescents, a group of high income, low- and middle-income countries and foundations are making pledges of $20.6 billion to protect this group. $6.6 billion (32%) of the total pledge is committed by low and middle-income countries themselves, including Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Liberia, and Nigeria. An additional $14 billion (68%) is from official development assistance and grants given by Germany, Canada, Sweden, UK, USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Recent WHO data from 105 countries show that 90 percent of countries have experienced disruptions to health services, with low- and middle-income countries reporting the greatest difficulties.
Some of the most frequently disrupted services include those related to: immunization services (facility-based services: 61 percent, and outreach facilities: 70 percent), and family planning and contraception services: 68 percent.
The maternal mortality ratio has dropped by 38 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2017. Still about 25,000 women were dying every month during and following pregnancy and childbirth, in 2017. Similarly, while the mortality rate for children under 5 years of age has been cut by 60 percent since 1990, about 5.2 million children under five were still dying every year from preventable causes before the pandemic.
According to early estimates of the indirect impact of COVID-19 on child and maternal mortality, more than 2 million additional child and maternal deaths are estimated over 12 months (2020-2021) above the pre-pandemic level because of disruptions to essential health and nutrition services.
Adding to the pain of the pandemic itself is a forecast of at least a 5 percent contraction of the global economy. Recent forecasts also indicate that global poverty is on the rise for the first time since 1998, with an estimated 47 million women and girls being pushed into extreme poverty. This will increase the total number of women and girls living in extreme poverty to 435 million, with projections showing that this number will not revert to pre-pandemic levels until 2030.
As of November 2020, 2.8 million children and adolescents have contracted COVID-19 in 87 countries. That is more than 10 percent of the 25.7 million infections in these countries.
Recent UNESCO data show that in April, 1.5 billion students were affected by educational institutions closures in 195 countries this year, leading to loss of school meals and critical impacts on child nutrition.
“The health and well-being of women, children and adolescents are now at great risk, with inequities compounded by narrowing access to essential health services such as antenatal care, skilled assistance at childbirth, postnatal care, immunizations, and family planning. Our concern is that resources — insufficient to begin with– are being diverted away to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” explains Helen Clark, Chair of PMNCH and former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
“These findings show how weak our health systems are at protecting women, newborns, children and adolescents, and how much basic primary health care matters in saving lives and protecting rights,” she adds.
PMNCH has issued a 7-point Call to Action in response to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. It calls on leaders to protect and prioritize their rights and health during the COVID-19 response and recovery by strengthening political commitment, policies and financing for vital health services and social protections, particularly for the most vulnerable.
Countries have responded to this call with these financial and policy commitments to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from becoming a lasting crisis.
The commitments will be launched on December 11 at “Lives in the Balance”, a global online summit to take stock of how COVID-19 is impacting the progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The event, co-hosted with PMNCH with UHC 2030 and the CORE Group, is held on the eve of UHC Day on December 12 (www.livesinthebalancesummit2.org).
$20.6 billion in funding to help women, newborns, children and adolescents
Country pledges increase investment in:
* Maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health care and well-being;
* Health systems strengthening;
* Nutrition, food security and social protection programs;
* Sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Taking into account the indirect effects of the pandemic on women and adolescent girls, some prioritize policies, programs or services to address gender equality and gender-based violence. These country commitments spanning multiple sectors will contribute to the realization of the Call to Action, helping to ensure women, adolescents and children can access health services and priority social protections throughout the COVID-19 crisis and recovery periods.
$16.1 billion (78%) are new commitments to address COVID-19, $2.2 billion (10.8%) are new commitments not linked to COVID-19, and $2.3 billion (11.2%) are commitments to protect existing RMNCAH commitments/budgets.
“This funding will ensure women, children and adolescents can access health services and priority social protections throughout the COVID-19 crisis and recovery periods,” says Helen Clark of PMNCH.
Here are the individual pledges (full text: www.pmnch.org):
* Afghanistan – $176.6 million during 2020-2023 to combat the challenges of COVID-19 and to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
* India – $2 billion during 2020-2021 to strengthen all levels of care in response to the pandemic and to ensure essential public health functions with an enhanced focus on women, children and adolescents and the most vulnerable.
* Kenya – $2.2 billion during 2021-2022 for the provision of universal health coverage to guarantee quality and affordable healthcare, with additional funding committed under the post COVID-19 Economic Recovery Strategy for inequality, social cohesion and social protection.
* Liberia – $10.65 million in 2021 to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents, by supporting and building the capacity of health services providers, providing safe and accessible drinking water, sanitation and hygiene as part of the COVID-19 incidence management system, and guaranteeing availability of critical life-saving equipment and medicines to ensure access to quality health care to women, children and adolescents.
* Nigeria – $2.3 billion during 2020-2028 for strategic interventions that protect the reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent and elderly health and nutrition through access to family planning services; immunization; and nutrition programmes.
* Canada: $2.89 billion during 2019-2024 as global COVID-19 response, placing gender equality and empowerment of women and girls at the centre of this response through investing in equitable and affordable access to testing and vaccine; including strengthening and ring-fencing of $ 937 million as funds for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; new and dedicated funding for prevention of violence against women; and ensuring access to reproductive health commodities and meaningful youth engagement.
* Germany – $5.3 billion bi- and multilateral contributions to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-2022; including $120 million to ensure globally fair, equitable and transparent access to COVID-19 vaccines; and $210 million to protect the health and rights of women, children and adolescents, by sustaining health systems with a focus on the needs of women and girls in the context of sexual and reproductive health through multi-lateral agencies and Global Financing Facility (GFF).
* Sida (Sweden) – $ 165.67 million additional funds to the COVID-19 crises and allowing for flexibility in existing funding in 2020-21, $ 53 million dedicated for protecting Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights services and promoting gender-responsiveness in the COVID-19 crisis through integrated efforts in health, health system strengthening, and ensuring access to maternity care, contraception and safe abortion care during and after the pandemic.
* United Kingdom – Up to £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) of new funding to tackle the health, humanitarian, and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19; and committed up to £500 million ($665 million) for COVAX, in support of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines during 2020-2021.
* United States of America – $1.3 billion for the global fight against COVID-19 to improve public health education; protect healthcare facilities; and increase lab, surveillance, and rapid-response capacities in more than 100 countries in 2020. This includes delivery of diagnostics and treatment tailored to countries’ needs, and measures to ensure safe delivery of essential maternal and child health and nutrition through improved WASH and infection prevention control in healthcare facilities.
* The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – $1.75 billion during 2020-2021 to support the global COVID-19 response efforts to accelerate the search for effective coronavirus vaccines and treatments to ensure that once available, they can be delivered quickly and affordably. In addition to new response efforts, the foundation will continue its support to protect the health and well-being of women and children, including by strengthening primary healthcare systems and improving the quality of care provided through essential health service.,
“As important as this $20.6 billion is, it only will partially solve the problem of providing basic essential services for women, newborns, young children and adolescents,” says Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. “Comprehensive efforts and collective advocacy are needed to ensure availability of substantially enhanced financial resources for this noble cause”, he adds.
Consider these facts:
* Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the child mortality rate under age five was three times higher in 36 countries classified as fragile by the World Bank, compared to non-fragile countries.
* In the least developed countries, the maternal mortality ratio, defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, was more than 40 times higher than in Europe.
New and Better Financing Ideas
“While we have achieved dramatic reductions in child and maternal mortality over the last 30 years, large inequities still persist across and within countries and are only worsening as a socio-economic consequence of COVID-19,” says Anuradha Gupta, Deputy CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and Chair of the PMNCH Strategy Committee.
“Women and girls, in particular, are being disproportionally affected simply by virtue of their gender. The global community needs to come together to deliver financing strategies that are equity enhancing, targeting the most vulnerable who have been hardest hit.”
Besides the added funding, all health experts agree, that health funds must be spent better. Pre-COVID-19 evidence over the past 10 years finds that an estimated 20-40 percent of health expenditure is wasted globally due to inefficiencies and corruption.
To improve the efficiency of health financing, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), a joint UN and World Bank initiative, prioritize spending through the development of investment cases, encourages results-based financing, and help coordinate and track spending through instruments such as the Resource Mapping and Expenditure Tracking tool.
These efforts generate greater precision in delivering the interventions that will help the most women, newborns, children and adolescents, including through the current COVID-19 crisis.
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PMNCH Call to Action
PMNCH issued a 7-point agenda for action in July 2020 to urge governments to protect and promote the health and rights of women, children and adolescents through strengthened political commitment, policies and domestic resource mobilization and financing, supported by ODA, for:
1. Sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) services, supplies, and information and demand generation including for contraception, safe abortion, immunization, safe delivery, stillbirth prevention, and mental health;
2. Advancing sexual and reproductive rights and gender equality;
3. Quality care, including respectful and dignified care, and effective community engagement and redress mechanisms;
4. Recruitment, training, equal and fair pay, and safe working conditions, including protective personal equipment, for frontline health workers, notably midwives and nurses;
5. Social protections, including food and nutrition security, for marginalized and vulnerable groups and enhanced data to better understand and address disparities experienced by adolescents, refugees, the internally displaced, migrants, indigenous communities, persons living with disabilities, among others;
6. Functional, safe, and clean toilet and hand washing facilities and quality potable drinking water, with a particular focus on healthcare centers, schools, and centers for refugees and internally displaced persons; and
7. Prevention of violence against women, children and adolescents through education and protection programs.
Geneva/New York, November 23 – The World Economic Forum made public its upcoming Davos Agenda under the theme “2021 is a crucial year to rebuild trust” as the ongoing pandemic continued to sap gains made in reversing unemployment, climate change and poverty worldwide.
“2021 is a crucial year to rebuild trust,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “The world is at a crossroads. The pandemic has reversed important gains in the global fight against unemployment, climate change and poverty. Leaders must come together for decisive and inclusive action.”
WEF said the Davos Agenda is a “pioneering mobilization of global leaders to rebuild trust to shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed in 2021.”
The virtual annual meeting will convene January 25-29, 2021 with the active participation of heads of state, CEOs, civil society leaders, global media and youth leaders from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North America and Latin America.
Following are the five program themes announced by WEF:
Designing cohesive, sustainable, resilient economic systems (January 25)
Driving responsible industry transformation and growth (January 26)
Enhancing stewardship of our global commons (January 27)
Harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (January 28)
Advancing global and regional cooperation (January 29)
“Heads of state and of government and international organizations will give special addresses on the state of the world, as well as engaging in dialogue with business leaders. Industry leaders and public figures will discuss how to advance and accelerate public-private collaboration on critical issues such as COVID-19 vaccination, job creation and climate change, among others. The Forum’s core communities, including its International Business Council, will share their insight and recommendations from global, regional and industry initiatives in impact sessions. (united nations correspondent journalists – united nations journalism articles}
The high-level agenda-setting dialogues that characterize the Forum’s January meeting will take place throughout the week and will be live streamed – providing more opportunities for the public to engage. Sessions will take place across Beijing, Geneva, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo time zones to ensure global participation.”
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Geneva/New York, November 18 – The existing food systems, battered by coronavirus that caused widespread famine in poor countries, need fundamental change in order to feed the planet’s growing population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, the World Economic Forum said. The current world population is 7.8 billion.
WEF said food industry, government and business leaders will hold a virtual conference in Geneva at which civil society and the public will also participate to discuss issues and share solutions at the Bold Actions for Food as a Force for Good event November 23-24.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is planning to convene a Food System Summit during the UN General Assembly session in September 2021 in an effort to steer the world to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, which include food security and ending poverty. The WEF conference is independently organized in support of UN food summit in 2021.
“The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated vulnerabilities in food systems – highlighting the insecurity of rural livelihoods, the tragedy of food waste, and stark inequities in access to healthy food,” WEF said. “As the global population races to 10 billion, more needs to be done to feed the planet while tackling the environmental impact of agriculture and addressing lack of biodiversity.”
WEF said the conference will look for a vision of the food systems of the future in order to tackle the urgent food crisis from the perspectives of government levels to farmers, young entrepreneurs and influencers. The conference will build a stronger food system that will be more sustainable and equitable. WEF said the Wageningen University and One Young World will host sessions featuring new innovations from young students and entrepreneurs.
Key sessions will be livestreamed on the Forum’s website. To participate in the meeting, ask questions and share ideas, please register for the Forum’s TopLink platform. Members of the media can request accreditation here. )
United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists – United Nations correspondent journalists
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New York/Geneva/Atlanta, November 12 – Measles claimed 207,500 lives in 2019, prompting the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn that more people would die of the disease as attention shifted to Covid-19 causing a pause in measles vaccination campaigns.
The health authorities said over 94 million people, as of November 2020, were at risk of missing vaccines because measles campaigns have been interrupted in 26 countries, with many of them experiencing cases of measles outbreaks. They said the campaigns, after an initial delay, have resumed in these countries: Brazil, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines and Somalia.
WHO and the Atlanta-based CDC said measles cases worldwide increased to 869,770 in 2019, the highest number reported since 1996. They said global measles deaths climbed nearly 50 percent since 2016, claiming an estimated 207,500 lives in 2019 alone.
“We know how to prevent measles outbreaks and deaths,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “These data send a clear message that we are failing to protect children from measles in every region of the world. We must collectively work to support countries and engage communities to reach everyone, everywhere with measles vaccine and stop this deadly virus.”
“Before there was a coronavirus crisis, the world was grappling with a measles crisis, and it has not gone away,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “While health systems are strained by the Covid-19 pandemic, we must not allow our fight against one deadly disease to come at the expense of our fight against another. This means ensuring we have the resources to continue immunization campaigns for all vaccine-preventable diseases, even as we address the growing Covid-19 pandemic.”
New York, November 16 – The US drug maker Moderna has joined the team Pfizer-BioNTech to claim that their Covid-19 vaccines have successfully passed trials and are over 90-per-cent effective, leading a pack of some other 50 vaccine candidates in the global race to stop the pandemic that has killed over 1.2 million people and infected 53 million others.
Moderna said its vaccine met the required three-trial phases and is 94.5 per cent effective a week after Pfizer announced its own vaccine. Large pharmaceutical companies in Australia, China, the United Kingdom, India and Russia are also working on their vaccines.
Since Pfizer announced its promising drug on November 11, news reports said the United States has purchased 100 million doses with an option to buy 500 million more dozes, the United Kingdom has bought 40 million doses and the European Union has bought 200 million with an option for another 100 million.
Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla has called the vaccine “the greatest medical advance” in the last 100 years while his counterpart at BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, said his company plans to increase the production of up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021 if it has obtained authorization to move forward in order to meet the urgent demands by millions of people around the world.
“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,” Bourla told the US TV network CNBC November 9. “We have already signed contracts with multiple governments in the world and they have placed orders.”
Sahin revealed that BioNTech used a new but not yet approved technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to spark an immune response in people who are vaccinated.
BioNTech and Pfizer are asking the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of the vaccine.
While news of the promising Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was announced and a second wave of coronavirus was hitting several European countries and the US, the WHO in Geneva resumed its virtual 73rd World Health Assembly to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of the millions of health and care workers at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic. It unanimously designated 2021 as the International Year of Health and Care Workers (YHCW).
The WHO also called for “Open Science,” describing it as a movement aimed at making the scientific process at the time of severe health crises more transparent and inclusive. It called for authoritative scientific information and research to be made freely available, to accelerate research into an effective vaccine against Covid-19, help counter misinformation, and “unlock the full potential of science”.
Tedros Ghebreyesus Adhanom, the WHO chief, in October joined human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UN Scientific, Cultural and Educational agency (UNESCO) to launch Open Science as a fundamental matter of human rights and called for cutting-edge technologies and discoveries to be available for those who need them most.
News reports said the US government has planned to supply $1.95 billion for production and delivery costs for the first 100 million doses upon authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to invest $25 billion to manufacture and distribute vaccines.
“It’s important to understand that the end of the battle against Covid-19 is still months away,” Biden said and reminded Americans to wear masks, keep social distancing and maintain measures to protect themselves. “Even if some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination in this country.”
