Response to a new epidemic must not displace responses to older ones
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Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, reports from the UNAids country offices in the eastern and southern African region trickle in every day on the loss of livelihoods and the resulting food insecurity and general deprivation in the region, especially among the millions of people who make a living from the informal sector — such as sex workers, informal traders and domestic workers.
This loss of livelihood is not only being experienced by people who reside on the African continent, but also people from the African Diaspora who used to send remittances home to their families and loved ones.
According to the World Bank, in 2018 remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to a staggering $48.2bn — exceeding the $43.9bn official development assistance (ODA) to the region. In fact, remittances have exceeded ODA since the mid-1990s. These remittances are forecast to drop 23% to $37bn in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that about 265-million people in Sub-Saharan Africa could face acute food insecurity by the end of 2020, up from 135-million people before the crisis, because of income and remittance losses. The Covid-19 outbreak has simultaneously affected both demand and supply. This was not a gradual impact that followed the usual business cycle. It was global. And it was sudden and dramatic.
The African economy largely depends on trade with Europe and China and the export of primary products, such as oil, coffee, cocoa, metals and minerals. The demand for these commodities has plummeted. The price of commodities has followed the drop in the price of oil, which reached a record low of $18 a barrel in March. Although oil prices are making a slow recovery, they are well below what they were a year ago. Overall demand for commodities remains low.
Our economies also depend heavily on tourism from these same places — another industry that did not so much grind to a halt as have the emergency brakes slammed on to avoid a head-on collision. The Covid-19 pandemic compounds inequalities and heightens people’s vulnerabilities, especially the 25.6-million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A recent UNAids report shows that lockdowns and other Covid-19-related restrictive measures have affected both the transport of goods across the value chain of production and the distribution of HIV medicines. Barriers to the supply chain and a forecasted economic shock indicate a ...
This loss of livelihood is not only being experienced by people who reside on the African continent, but also people from the African Diaspora who used to send remittances home to their families and loved ones.
According to the World Bank, in 2018 remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to a staggering $48.2bn — exceeding the $43.9bn official development assistance (ODA) to the region. In fact, remittances have exceeded ODA since the mid-1990s. These remittances are forecast to drop 23% to $37bn in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that about 265-million people in Sub-Saharan Africa could face acute food insecurity by the end of 2020, up from 135-million people before the crisis, because of income and remittance losses. The Covid-19 outbreak has simultaneously affected both demand and supply. This was not a gradual impact that followed the usual business cycle. It was global. And it was sudden and dramatic.
The African economy largely depends on trade with Europe and China and the export of primary products, such as oil, coffee, cocoa, metals and minerals. The demand for these commodities has plummeted. The price of commodities has followed the drop in the price of oil, which reached a record low of $18 a barrel in March. Although oil prices are making a slow recovery, they are well below what they were a year ago. Overall demand for commodities remains low.
Our economies also depend heavily on tourism from these same places — another industry that did not so much grind to a halt as have the emergency brakes slammed on to avoid a head-on collision. The Covid-19 pandemic compounds inequalities and heightens people’s vulnerabilities, especially the 25.6-million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A recent UNAids report shows that lockdowns and other Covid-19-related restrictive measures have affected both the transport of goods across the value chain of production and the distribution of HIV medicines. Barriers to the supply chain and a forecasted economic shock indicate a ...
