Health & Well Being

COVID-19: Artificial Intelligence to Back Up Data-Driven Response in Africa

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The epicentre of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic has moved from China to Europe and the United States. But it has not spared Africa. "It will victimise particularly communities living in poverty who have no protection and no access to health care," says Prof. Dr. Mirjam van Reisen who chairs 'Computing for Society' at the Leiden University.

The public research university in the Netherlands has joined universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe in the Virus Outbreak Data Africa Network (VODAN) FAIR Data initiative.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 March 2020

Image credit: Sven Simon | Deutschlandfunk

COVID-19: Bio-Warfare Conspiracy Theories Need Investigation

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – With the new coronavirus now known as COVID-19 becoming a global pandemic affecting countries around the world, with epicentres in western countries, various conspiracy theories have emerged and are gaining traction both in social media and the mainstream. Rather than dismissing these, all such theories may need close examination by independent bodies to keep the world safer from such biological warfare fears.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 26 March 2020

COVID-19: Kenya Urged to Take 'Swift & Effective' Public Finance Response

By James Muraguri

The writer is CEO of the Institute of Public Finance, Kenya, & an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity.

NAIROBI (IDN) – On March 12, 2020, the first case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was confirmed in Kenya. Over the next eleven days, 16 more cases were confirmed. Based on precedents elsewhere, we know this pandemic could set in motion an economic crisis that will burden Kenya for a long time to come.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 March 2020

Photo: A deserted street in Cairo after the government ordered the closure of shops, restaurants and cafes. Credit: Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images

One-Size-Fits All Approach to COVID-19 Could Have Lethal Consequences for Africa

Viewpoint by Alex Broadbent and Benjamin T.H. Smart*

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Suppose you had the choice between two health policies, A and B. Policy A would result in the death of a lot of elderly people. Policy B would result in the death of a lot of children, especially infants. Which would you choose?

Right now we are facing a choice between more or less drastic measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, a virus which, at the time of writing, has yet to claim a life under 10, and claims very few lives under 30, with the risk rising exponentially with age.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 March 2020

Photo: Screenshot of the UN chief calling for an immediate global ceasefire. Credit: UN WebTV.

UN Chief's Call for Global Ceasefire Gathering Support

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a clarion call for "an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world", UN Secretary-General António Guterres on March 23 urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind.

The ceasefire would allow humanitarians to reach populations that are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, which first emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has now been reported in more than 180 countries. So far, there are nearly 300,000 cases worldwide, and more than 12,700 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 25 March 2020

Photo: Staff members unload the medical supplies from China at the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 22, 2020. Credit: Xinhua

China Heeds Global Demand for Anti-Coronavirus Masks

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As much of the world attempts to source much-needed face masks, Africa has been offered 5.4 million masks, more than a million testing kits and other items in a donation from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.

Massive medical supplies donated by the Jack Ma Foundation to 54 African countries arrived on March 22 morning in Addis Ababa, capital of the East African nation of Ethiopia, through an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 24 March 2020

Photo (against the backdrop of Bandaranaike International Airport): U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz (right front) presenting a branded donation of Dupont Tyvek coveralls, nitrile gloves, heavy duty work gloves, boot covers, and cleaning supplies to Major General (Rtd) GA Chandrasiri (left in front), Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka on behalf of the American people. The equipment will help protect airport personnel and prevent the spread of COVID-19. The donation is part of U.S. efforts to assist Sri Lanka.

COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and South Asia: Need for a Rational Policy Response

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1882-1945).

Viewpoint by Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*

The writer is a cultural anthropologist with research expertise in international political economy, peace, and development studies in South and South East Asia.

COLOMBO (IDN) – COVID 19 is more a panic than a pandemic: It obscures from view the fact that far more people die as a result of illness related to poverty, malnutrition, and other forms of structural violence than anything else in South Asia, and indeed the rest of the world.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 23 March 2020

Photo: Collage of UN pictures (left) Violence in West Darfur has forced thousands of Sudanese across the border into Chad. ©UNHCR/Aristophane Ngargoune and (right) A woman wearing a protective mask and gloves checks her phone while walking along the East River in New York. UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi.

COVID-19: UN Agencies Working Round the Clock to Ensure Humanitarian Support

By Daniel Johnson of UN News

GENEVA (IDN) – United Nations agencies are working round the clock to provide all the necessary aid to vulnerable sections of the society to combat the Coronavirus pandemic at diverse levels: ensuring meals to millions of children affected by the closure of schools, airlifting relief to Sudanese refugees in Chad.

Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that for the moment, there is no reason why people infected with the COVID-19 virus should not take ibuprofen, a widely available drug used to treat fever and soreness.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 23 March 2020

Photo: A passenger walks through an emptied check-in area at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, March 19, 2020. Foreign visitors to Japan have plunged by 58% since the coronavirus outbreak. Credit: EPA-EFE/Franck Robichon

The World's Response to COVID-19 Has Slashed CO2 Emissions

Viewpoint by Simone Abram*

DURHAM, UK (IDN) – How do you respond to a crisis? It's obvious that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been dramatically different to anything provoked by repeated scientific warnings about climate change. The many organisations that declared climate emergencies throughout 2019 and 2020 have so far enacted nothing like the scale and speed of action to limit the spread of coronavirus.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 March 2020

COVID-19: Resources Needed for Gender and Social Inclusion

Women Front and Centre

Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director.

NEW YORK (IDN) – One thing is clear about the COVID-19 pandemic, as stock markets tumble, schools and universities close, people stockpile supplies and home becomes a different and crowded space: this is not just a health issue. It is a profound shock to our societies and economies, exposing the deficiencies of public and private arrangements that currently function only if women play multiple and underpaid roles.