Africa Must not Assume a ‘Business as Usual’ Approach to COVID-19 Recovery

Jennifer Cynthia Nyakonga, a 24-year-old teacher in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Uganda in class. Following closure of schools due to COVID-19, many of the girls have gotten pregnant and some have repatriated back to South Sudan. Photo credits: Emmanuel Museruka/Oxfam.By Peter Kamalingin B.L.NAIROBI, Nov 3 2020 (IPS) The corona virus pandemic is impacting Africa’s population in quite differentiated ways and is significantly entrenching inequality. At the greatest risk are lives and livelihoods of the poor. Millions are being pushed further into hunger and poverty. Children have been forced out of school with many of them, particularly girls, having a slim or no chance of accessing education again. Without access to piped water and no food reserves, women have had to bear the biggest burden of the pandemic and risked exposure to the virus to keep families going. Reversal of the gains made during the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era, ais now more likely than ever. Leaders must refuse to take the easier option of failed economic models that allow few rich people to build their wealth off the backs of the poor and thrive even in the middle of a pandemic. Political and business leaders must take bold steps towards building a human economy for all Africans This crisis has clearly shown how critical publicly funded public services are to dealing with pandemics. Decades of underinvestment in public services and social protection systems have left the majority of governments ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Headlines Health Human Rights Poverty & SDGs Source Type: news