Global Health Governance discussions
Busy times again for people reflecting on Global Health Governance (reform), and WHO’s role in particular, as the Covid-19 pandemic (and WHO’s response to it) are unfolding; and obviously also in the slipstream of Trump’s “decision” re WHO.
But let’s start with an ‘exclusive story” from
Vanity Fair, for once. It doesn’t always have to be the Lancet 😊.
Vanity Fair - Exclusive: The Secret Plan to Unwithdraw From the WHO After Trump’s “Bizarre,” “Ruinous” Exit
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/secret-plan-to-unwithdraw-from-the-who-after-trumps-exit
(8 June) “Documents show that
health officials have spent weeks scrambling to salvage the relationship—along with global programs to combat everything from polio to Ebola.”
Excerpt: “…
The stunning announcement came 11 days into a frantic scramble by career health officials and U.S. diplomats to salvage America’s relationship with the WHO after Trump lashed out at the organization in a four-page letter citing its “alarming lack of independence” from China. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, officials were still compiling a coherent set of steps that the WHO could take to satisfy Trump when he made his unilateral decision to pull out. Now, Vanity Fair has learned, secret negotiations aimed at reversing Trump’s decision have begun between Ambassador Bremberg and the WHO’s director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. A phone call Saturday between the two men resulted in a possible framework agreement to restore the relationship, which the U.S. diplomatic corps views as essential to the global fight against coronavirus and myriad other public health issues. The framework would allow for both increased scrutiny of China’s conduct and an independent review of the WHO’s performance in the first six months of the outbreak. And discussions continue over whether the WHO would exert pressure on China to turn over original samples of the live virus and allow its scientists to be interviewed regarding the virus’s origins. “It’s fair to say the U.S. is not out of WHO, and negotiations are ongoing to address concerns and hopefully walk back from this decision,” said an official who participated in a call with G7 partners, an alliance of countries with advanced economies, where this information was shared….”
Anyway, let’s see how this story turns out in the weeks & months to follow. I personally put my hopes on a Biden victory, to be honest.
Stat News – Trump’s decision to leave WHO came with bluster, but no action so far
H Branswell;
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/11/trumps-decision-to-leave-who-came-with-bluster-but-no-action-so-far/
(Latest update, as of 11 June) “
Nearly two weeks have passed since President Trump announced he was withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization. To date, none of the levers that would need to be pulled to follow through on that decision has been pulled. The Trump administration has not formally notified the WHO that it is withdrawing, a spokesman for the agency told STAT. The administration has also not paid outstanding financial obligations to the WHO, a step that would be required before the United States could pull out under a joint resolution signed by Congress. Instead, the president’s May 29 announcement — in which he declared that “We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization” — has been followed by virtual silence from both top health officials in his administration as well as WHO officials in Geneva. Some legal experts find themselves wondering whether a withdrawal will happen at all….”
“…Behind the scenes, talks between the WHO and the United States appear to be ongoing. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is reportedly in discussions with the U.S. ambassador to Geneva about the Trump administration’s concerns about the agency.
Tedros also said Wednesday that he continues to speak directly with health secretary Alex Azar, most recently about a new Ebola outbreak in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We had a very good discussion with Secretary Azar last week. And he assured me of U.S. continued commitment to support in the fight, especially against Ebola,” Tedros told reporters….”
Rollcall- Congress weighs next steps on WHO relationship
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/06/10/congress-weighs-next-steps-on-who-relationship/
(10 June) [US] “
Lawmakers are considering new ways to approach the World Health Organization, as President Donald Trump’s intentions behind his threat to terminate the relationship remain unclear. The WHO retains bipartisan support from Congress, even in the face of evidence that top officials praised China as the country delayed sharing critical information about the coronavirus outbreak. But many Republicans are seeking more transparency and accountability, with some even calling on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to resign. The next steps remain uncertain… “
NPR Goats & Soda - How Will The U.S. And WHO Fare Without Each Other?
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/05/869913174/how-will-the-u-s-and-who-fare-without-each-other
Over to some analysis then from earlier this week then of the US “withdrawing” from WHO, as indicated by Trump. With the views of J Konyndyk, Clare Wenham, F Vabulas, Kelley Lee and Ilona Kickbusch, Gostin, …. Well worth a read. Focusing on
short term reactions, midterm possibilities & long term impact.
Quote: “…
Wenham's read on WHO's current strategy is that it hopes to wait Trump out. If he loses the election in the fall, she and other global health experts say they think a new incoming president would likely reestablish the working relationship between the U.S. and WHO….”
Blog of the European Journal of International Law - The USA and the World Health Organization: What has President Trump actually decided and what are its consequences?
Gian Luca Burci;
https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-usa-and-the-world-health-organization-what-has-president-trump-actually-decided-and-what-are-its-consequences/
Expert view by Burci, Adjunct Professor of international law at the
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Recommended in-depth analysis of the possible meanings & ramifications, in various areas/organisations/forums of a US “retreat” from WHO.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg Law reported -
U.S. Agencies Work With WHO Despite Trump Threat to Cut Ties
Among others (4 June), “…
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield both suggested they are maintaining ties with the WHO …”
Swissinfo - US withdrawal from the WHO ‘hasn’t been fully thought through’
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/global-health_us-withdrawal-from-the-who--hasn-t-been-fully-thought-through-/45820376
“
US President Donald Trump says he wants to end his country’s relationship with the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO). Global health specialist Ilona Kickbusch explains the implications and what could happen next.”
“
The devil is in the detail”, or “
It's really, really complicated”, is Kickbusch’s main message here. She wasn’t referring to the Donald.
Quote: “…
Withdrawing from UNESCO was easy, as there were no treaties involved. But when you withdraw from the WHO you have a range of health treaties and norms and standards, where American institutes and researchers and experts play an incredibly important role. This decision hasn't been fully thought through. Trump probably thinks the WHO is a Geneva-based organisation full of strange bureaucrats. But WHO also has 80 country offices that the US uses all the time for bilateral programmes. WHO also has regional offices. What will the implications be for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)? What about all the work the WHO does in Latin America which is becoming the foci of the pandemic?...”
Deutsche Welle - Mo Ibrahim: Trump playing 'blame game' with WHO, coronavirus
https://www.dw.com/en/mo-ibrahim-trump-playing-blame-game-with-who-coronavirus/a-53706375
“The influential Sudanese-British businessman speaks to DW about US President Donald Trump's criticism of the WHO and what is needed to improve international organizations and governance in Africa.”
Quote:
“…I think what we need to do with our international organizations is to improve the system of governance. Unfortunately, many of these organizations are more or less becoming the tools of the few large shareholders on their boards. When you have a crisis in international relationships — as we do now with the United States and China — we see the beginning of a new Cold War era. The international organization is the battleground between the superpowers. That's really unfortunate….”
Devex - 'Big concerns' over Gates foundation's potential to become largest WHO donor
https://www.devex.com/news/big-concerns-over-gates-foundation-s-potential-to-become-largest-who-donor-97377
“
If the United States government withdraws from the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is poised to become the agency’s top donor. The potential of this change is raising questions about what such influence from a single private foundation could mean.” Quotes from
L Gostin, Diaz-Herrera and Sophie Harman, among others.
Lancet Comment - The WHO we want
O Nay, M-P Kieny, M Kazatchkine e tal;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31298-8/fulltext
Must-read by members of the
Santé mondiale 2030 think tank. We largely agree with their view.
Excerpt: “…
Which WHO do we want after the COVID-19 pandemic? WHO must evolve to become more results-oriented and responsive. Such an evolution requires more than a functional review: it calls for a thorough transformation that overcomes political divisions and empowers WHO with the ability to question and constructively criticise national health strategies. We call for a WHO whose technical authority is fully recognised by member states and is free of political considerations, and whose funding does not depend on unreliable voluntary contributions; a WHO that gives a fair role to civil society and other non-governmental actors in its governance; and a WHO that primarily focuses on the mandate of a technical agency in health, as set by its founders in 1948. We call for a WHO with full legitimacy as the world's leading institution in global health, with enhanced authority to enforce its norms and standards and to coordinate global action. WHO needs the resources to publicly warn and potentially call for sanctions against member states that do not comply with global health imperatives….”
American Society of International Law - The Collapse of Global Cooperation under the WHO International Health Regulations at the Outset of COVID-19: Sculpting the Future of Global Health Governance
A Taylor et al ;
ASIL ;
« …
This commentary explores the merits of calls for inquiry by countries and unpacks their underlying legal and governance issues….”
Summarizing tweet also by B Mason Meier: «
Given the breakdown of #GlobalSolidarity in the #COVID19 response, Allyn Taylor & Roojin Habibi advocate restructuring @WHO 's coordinating authority in #GlobalGovernance — looking to the @UNAIDS model of multisectoral coordination in the #AIDS pandemic. »
The WHO and the future of international public finance
Simon Reid-Henry & J Glennie;
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/ihss/news/items/opinion-piece-the-who-and-the-future-of-international-public-finance.html
“
IHSS Director, Dr Simon Reid-Henry and Jonathan Glennie, Principal Associate at the Joep Lange Institute, argue in their latest work that the current Covid-19 crisis has highlighted massive underfunding of global public health bodies. However, the pandemic also presents an opportunity to rectify this.”
“… The current moment is an opportunity to achieve something big in this regard: a more structured form of international public financing for “global goods” including healthcare systems and pandemic response. After all, Covid-19 already affects almost all the world’s countries and regions and it will not be overcome unless countries learn once again to work together, as they have done at key moments in the past. Perhaps most impressively, the Second World War induced a commitment to international monetary and trade cooperation that formed the backbone to the Bretton Woods international system. For all its weaknesses, that system was sufficient to manage the post-war rebuilding of the world. Today a fiscal counterpart is required. And there is no more pressing area in which to develop such a system than health. … One such possible form of fiscal internationalism would be to roll out, in the field of global health, a system of what some of us have begun calling Global Public Investment. …”
… What might be termed “fiscal internationalism” is one part of that collective action: more public money paying for better public goods and basic services, internationally as well as nationally, and more democratic governance of that money, updating an international system which still reflects the power structures and political thinking of the 1950s more than the 2020s….”
LSE - How to reorganise the World Health Organization – and how to finance it
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/06/05/how-to-reorganise-the-world-health-organization-and-how-to-finance-it/
“
Three conditions must be met for the WHO to reinvent itself and prevent and contain future pandemics, write Lucie Gadenne and Maitreesh Ghatak.” We’re not that convinced by their suggestion to redefine WHO’s core mission around the global response to infectious diseases –which could be called ‘GRID’ in their view.
We were mainly cheering for this paragraph (but would like to see this applied on the whole of WHO and basically all GPGs):
“
Finally, GRID would need a budget adequate to the task. The W.H.O.’s current annual budget, roughly $2bn, is not much higher than that of the main hospital in its host city, Geneva. Rule of thumb calculations suggest this is grossly inadequate. Consider, for example, what preventing the international spread of a highly contagious disease through air travel could require. Taking the estimated cost of a Covid-19 test ($10) and the number of air passengers in 2018 (4.2 bn) as a benchmark, $42 bn could be needed for testing international travellers alone. Even half that number is 10 times the W.H.O.’s current budget. How could GRID raise money? One financing mechanism could take the form of ‘user-fees’ on those benefitting the most from the global movement of people, something that GRID will protect. Multinational corporations top that list. Researchers estimate that they made $1.7trn in profits from their international activities in 2015, a non-trivial share of which is booked in tax havens and therefore subject to little taxation. A small 5% tax on these international profits alone would generate $85 bn. International air passengers and airlines could also be asked to contribute, as the main direct beneficiaries from testing infrastructure in airports. …”
Germany & Global Health
Germany’s Role in Global Health
I Kickbusch;
https://www.aicgs.org/2020/06/germanys-role-in-global-health/
Some thoughts from Ilona Kickbusch. Well worth a read, certainly also if you know that Germany is
about to take up the rotating EU presidency, from 1 July on.
Starting like this: “
The focus for German Global Health activities presently is threefold: as a strong supporter of multilateral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in a wide range of UN and other political bodies; taking WHO reform proposals forward as a member of the Executive Board of the WHO (2018-2021); and using the upcoming EU presidency starting July 1, 2020, to strengthen the EU role in global health.”
Check out her
15 key messages.
Devex - How Germany failed to live up to its global health ambitions
A Green;
https://www.devex.com/news/how-germany-failed-to-live-up-to-its-global-health-ambitions-97451
Somewhat misleading title, I’d say, but well worth a read. State of affairs on Germany & global health, as it’s about to take up the EU Council presidency. “
Germany has spent the past decade positioning itself as a global health leader, particularly on pandemic preparedness. Where was it, then, when coronavirus struck?” Among others, on the “turf battle” for global health (within German government), and a window of opportunity.
Cfr
tweet Katri Bertram: “
We all agree that the upcoming German #EU Presidency (July-Dec 2020) with #Covid19 offers an opportunity like #Ebola did for #G7/#G20 Presidencies (for #HSS/#UHC). Will Germany‘s ambition level & convening power be high enough? We hope so.”
Covid-19 key news – A grim global picture
We first start with an ultra-short update on the figures & global trends, and then move to key WHO messages, initiatives, and other key news from this week.
In general, the WHO says “
the situation globally is deteriorating, at a time when Europe appears to be over the worst of the pandemic. More than 100,000 new cases worldwide were reported each day for most of the last two weeks”, WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
Cidrap News - New World COVID-19 hot spots eye upcoming flu, hurricane seasons
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/06/new-world-covid-19-hot-spots-eye-upcoming-flu-hurricane-seasons
(June 10) “The head of the WHO today addressed unknowns surrounding asymptomatic spread, as surges continue in several hot spots, including Brazil, amid warnings that the upcoming Southern Hemisphere flu season and the hurricane season pose extra challenges to countries grappling with COVID-19. … … The global total today climbed to 7,313,661 cases, and at least 413,854 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.”
Tedros (
8 June ) said
the situation is worsening globally.
PS (via WEF blog): “
Just five countries - the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK and India - account for more than half the 7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.”
See also
Cidrap News (June 8) -
Global COVID-19 cases top 7 million, deaths exceed 400,000
Although in some countries and regions hit earlier, the first wave seems to subside, an
acceleration seems to take place
in many other parts of the world, especially in the Global South (see below for more detail). And sadly, some countries (including the US?) almost seem to be “
giving up “on the pandemic.
And for the
latest update (Cidrap News – June 11) -
COVID-19 activity escalating in Africa, Middle East
“Though Latin America has evolved as the world's biggest hot spot, COVID-19 activity is escalating in other regions, including Africa, which just passed 200,000 cases, and the Middle East, where cases have accelerated over the past 3 weeks….” For more detail, see below.
UN News - Still much to learn about new coronavirus: WHO
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1066062
“
Research is ongoing to determine how the virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted by people who show no symptoms of the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists on Wednesday.”
“The UN agency has clarified information shared earlier this week, noting that there is still much to learn about the new coronavirus….” ““
By definition, a new virus means that we’re learning as we go”, said Tedros. “We have learned a lot, but there’s still a lot we don’t know.” (see below for more on this PR hiccup).
And WHO on
COVID-19 and seasonal variation:
“
Although winter historically signals the start of flu season, health experts are not yet certain how the new coronavirus will react under the same conditions. “Right now, we have no data to suggest that the virus will behave more aggressively, or transmit more efficiently, or not”, said Dr. Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, responding to a journalist’s question about the start of winter in the southern hemisphere. Similarly, there is no data on whether the virus will respond differently under summertime conditions. Dr. Ryan said while warmer weather tends to draw people outdoors, air conditioning also allows them to spend more time inside. “There may be risks that are driven by climate that aren’t specifically related to the viruses themselves, but are more specifically related to the human behaviours that are driven by temperature or driven by the season,” he said. “But at this point, just to be clear, we have no indication as yet how the disease will behave in future.””
HPW - ‘Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions’ Limited Pandemic Spread Across Europe; WHO Supports ‘Global Movement Against Racism’
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/74994-2/
“…
the World Health Organization said that the disease was accelerating in South Asia and Latin America, even as European countries saw declines and began lifting lockdown measures. … … “Yesterday, more than 136,000 cases were reported, the most in a single day so far. Almost 75% of yesterday’s cases come from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We’re seeing acceleration of disease now in Central and South America,” said WHO Health Emergencies Executive Director Mike Ryan. “And we’re seeing a similar acceleration and path for South Asia.”…”
“… In his strongest statement to date, the WHO Director-General also expressed support for worldwide demonstrations against police brutality and racism, sparked by the death of a black man, George Floyd, after an officer put him in a knee hold in the United States….”
“ “WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds. We encourage all those protesting around the world to do so safely, as much as possible,” said Dr Tedros, the first African leader of the UN’s health agency.”
UN News - Demonstrators must protect themselves, and others, from COVID-19: UN health agency
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1065702
From a few days earlier (last week on Friday
): “Demonstrators who want to go into the street to make their voices heard, should take every precaution against catching or passing on the coronavirus, as the global pandemic is far from over, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.”
Stat News - ‘We don’t actually have that answer yet’: WHO clarifies comments on asymptomatic spread of Covid-19
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/09/who-comments-asymptomatic-spread-covid-19/
On the PR/Communication hiccup from earlier this week.
“A top World Health Organization official clarified on Tuesday that scientists have not determined yet how frequently people with asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 pass the disease on to others, a day after suggesting that such spread is “very rare.” The clarification comes after the WHO’s original comments incited strong pushback from outside public health experts, who suggested the agency had erred, or at least miscommunicated, when it said people who didn’t show symptoms were unlikely to spread the virus. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on the Covid-19 pandemic, made it very clear Tuesday that the actual rates of asymptomatic transmission aren’t yet known.”…”
“… Some of the confusion boiled down to the details of what an asymptomatic infection actually is, and the different ways the term is used. While some cases of Covid-19 are fully asymptomatic, sometimes the word is also used to describe people who haven’t started showing symptoms yet, when they are presymptomatic. …”
“… Van Kerkhove acknowledged Tuesday that her use of the phrase “very rare” had been a miscommunication. She said she had based that phrasing on findings from a small number of studies that followed asymptomatic cases and tracked how many of their contacts became infected. She said she did not mean to imply that “asymptomatic transmission globally” was happening rarely, because that has not been determined yet….”
But see the
NYT’s take
- In the W.H.O.’s Coronavirus Stumbles, Some Scientists See a Pattern
“
The agency’s advice sometimes lags behind rapidly evolving research into the coronavirus, experts contend.” With quotes from
M Osterhölm among others. ““…
The W.H.O. has been out of step with most of the world on the issue of droplets and aerosols,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.”
And this quote from
L Gostin: “…
critics, including its own officials, said the organization should be transparent about its sources. “W.H.O.’s first and foremost responsibility is to be the science leader,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the W.H.O. Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. “And when they come out with things that are clearly contradicted by the scientific establishment without any justification or citing studies, it significantly reduces their credibility.””
PS: as for my own view – I have huge respect for all these WHO staff who have been working day after day, since the start of this pandemic, in the frontlines, with the world media all over them, and this in the midst of geopolitical polarisation, with everybody waiting for them to make mistakes. I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of Tedros, Ryan and other Van Kerkhove’s, to be honest.
HPW - WHO Issues New Mask Guidelines
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-issues-clear-recommendations-supporting-mask-use-in-the-general-public-as-part-of-a-comprehensive-package-of-interventions/
WHO message (and new guidelines) from late last week. “…
WHO released updated guidance on June 5 for the use of masks to prevent COVID-19 transmission in the general public and healthcare settings….”
“Governments in areas with widespread COVID-19 transmission should encourage the use of non-medical masks on public transport, in shops and in other locations where physical distancing is difficult, WHO recommends in updated guidance published on Friday. Additionally, people over 60, or who have underlying health conditions, should wear medical masks in these settings, while all workers in clinical areas of health facilities should also use them – not just those who deal with COVID-19 patients.
And a
quote from Tedros: ““WHO has developed this guidance through a careful review of all available evidence and extensive consultation with international experts and civil society groups,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “I wish to be very clear that the guidance we’re publishing today is an update of what we have been saying for months – that masks should only ever be used as part of a comprehensive strategy. Masks on their own will not protect you from COVID-19.”
Coverage also in
the Guardian -
WHO advises public to wear face masks when unable to distance
NYT - Is the Secret to Japan’s Virus Success Right in Front of Its Face?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/world/asia/japan-coronavirus-masks.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesworld
Perhaps worth reading in this “great mask debate”.
“
In America, masks have become a weapon in the culture wars. In Japan, wearing one is no big deal, and deaths have stayed low.” One expert says Japan “did everything wrong” when the coronavirus came — with one exception:
Virtually everyone wore a mask.
Tedros on Covid-19 Partners platform
During one of his media briefings:
“
As part of our commitment to coordinating the global response, WHO is also running the COVID-19 Partners Platform, an online tool that enables countries to match needs with resources. This online tool enables countries to enter planned activities for which they need support, and donors to match their contributions to these activities. So far, 105 national plans have been uploaded, and 56 donors have entered their contributions, totalling US$3.9 billion. The platform also includes the COVID-19 Supply Portal, enabling countries to request critical supplies of diagnostics, protective equipment and other essential medical provisions….”
NYT - The World Reopens, Despite Skyrocketing Coronavirus Cases
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/world/coronavirus-reopenings.html
“
The number of infections is rising faster than ever, but many countries have decided that this is the moment to ease lockdown restrictions.”
Vox - These 7 countries have the most worrying Covid-19 outbreaks
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21284315/coronavirus-cases-update-us-india-brazil-south-africa
“
India, Brazil, and South Africa have some of the world’s most alarming Covid-19 trends.”
And in addition, many other (smaller) countries… that the world media cover far less.
See also
the NYT -
Coronavirus Rips Into Regions Previously Spared
“
As the West settles into a grinding battle with the disease, the virus surges across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and South Asia.”
Excerpt:
“…
The upswing marks a new stage in the trajectory of the virus, away from Western countries that have settled into a grinding battle against an increasingly familiar adversary, toward corners of the globe where many hoped that hot weather, youthful populations or some unknown epidemiological factor might shield them from a scourge that has infected 6.5 million people and killed almost 400,000, over a quarter of them in the United States. … … Many low- and middle-income countries, now grappling with surging cases, are also struggling to balance public health against the realities of poverty-stricken societies, said Ashish Jha, professor of global health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “At some point the lockdown becomes intolerable,” he said. “The human cost to day laborers, many of whom are already barely surviving, is enormous.” … … The hopes of some countries that they could somehow avoid the pandemic are likely to be dashed, he added….”
(WHO Afro’s) Moeti on situation in Africa (via the Guardian & WHO Afro)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jun/11/coronavirus-live-news-us-cases-near-2-million-as-mexico-city-ramps-up-testing-in-push-to-reopen#block-5ee1edfc8f0860ca20faa33d
“Coronavirus 'accelerating' across Africa amid shortage of test kits, says WHO”
“The coronavirus pandemic is “accelerating” in Africa with more than 200,000 confirmed cases across the continent and 5,600 deaths, the region’s World Health Organisation director Dr Matshidiso Moeti has said. Moeti said the virus was spreading from capital cities where it arrived with travellers and that 10 countries were bearing the brunt of Africa’s epidemic, accounting for 75% of confirmed cases and infections. South Africa accounts for a quarter of cases. “We believe that large numbers of severe cases and deaths are not being missed in Africa,” she said. “One of the biggest challenges in Africa continues be availability of supplies, particularly test kits.”…”
For more, see
WHO Afro (11 June).
And Politico -
WHO warns of 'accelerating' pandemic in Africa
“
The WHO Africa chief said that community transmission has begun in more than half of Africa’s 54 countries and “this is a serious sign.””
Nature Medicine - COVID-19 in Africa: the spread and response
M M Loembé et al ;
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0961-x
Co-authored by
John Nkengasong (Africa CDC), so you know you have to read this.
“
Given the current trends in incidence and underlying healthcare systems vulnerabilities, Africa could become the next epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic transitions to more widespread community transmission, how can the lessons learned thus far be consolidated to effectively curb the spread of COVID-19 while minimizing social disruption and negative humanitarian and economic consequences?”
The authors give an overview of state of affairs in Africa, shedding some light also on continental strengths & challenges, and then go on, saying that “
To ensure an effective and comprehensive response to COVID 19 on the continent, Africa CDC calls for action on the following three core areas:…” :
“ (1) AU Member States must limit transmission through systematic and widespread surveillance and testing; (2) AU Member States must limit severe illness and death from COVID-19; (3) AU Member States must limit social disruption and the economic consequences of COVID-19.”
For a related read, see
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene - COVID-19: Shining the Light on Africa (co-authored by
M Moeti & J Nkengasong). “…What can Africa and global partners do to confront COVID-19?” They list 13 points.
Nature Medicine (news) - Low- and middle-income countries face up to COVID-19
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41591-020-00020-2
“As cases of COVID-19 are being declared the Global South, low- and middle-income countries brace themselves for the pandemic.” From a few weeks ago, but this article hasn’t lost anything of its relevance.
Quote: “…
On and off the front lines, doctors are watching in alarm as COVID-19 hits areas with vulnerable populations and fragile healthcare systems. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, expects the pandemic to exact a bigger toll in the Global South than in North America or Europe, for several reasons. Exposure to the causative coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will be higher in the densely packed slums of megacities such as Karachi, Dhaka, Mumbai and Lagos, where social distancing is impossible. Low- and middle-income countries’ high rates of chronic health problems linked to COVID-19 complications, such as diabetes, are going to cause more severe cases, and on top of that, the countries’ healthcare systems lack the critical-care resources to respond to the sort of surge in intensive-care patients seen in New York and Italy. “And mortality goes up in COVID when your health system gets overwhelmed,” Hotez tells Nature Medicine. “So, what you’re going to get is this perfect storm of forces….””
AP - China defends its coronavirus response in new report
https://apnews.com/e1a9358749fc91d6c2ca74a0c2282516
“
Senior Chinese officials released a lengthy report Sunday on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, defending their government’s actions and saying that China had provided information in a timely and transparent manner….”
Full report -
Fighting COVID-19: China in Action
More coverage of this report, for example in the
NYT -
China Hails Its Virus Triumphs, and Glosses Over Its Mistakes “
Trying to win a propaganda tug of war, Beijing staunchly defended its actions, saying it didn’t hide the emergence of the outbreak.”
Or
the Telegraph – “
The report says leaders acted decisively and heaps praise on president Xi Jinping”.
For another angle on this story, see
Xinhua:
China to increase support for Africa's fight against COVID-19: white paper
Lancet World Report – COVID-19 vaccines for all?
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31354-4/fulltext
Must-read. “
If an effective COVID-19 vaccine is developed, how will it get to everyone in need? Ann Danaiya Usher reports on the initiatives being planned to ensure equitable access, and their shortcomings.”
Among others, zooming in on (1)
GAVI’s Covax AMC, (2) the ‘
Inclusive Vaccine Alliance’ (launched by France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands’, which aims to establish a European manufacturing base for COVID-19 vaccines for the EU and other countries; (3) a second AMC proposal that comes from a group led by Harvard University economist and Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer (sort of ‘
AMC based on America First’); (4)
CGD’s “Benefit-Based AMC for COVID-19”; and (5) the
COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, proposed by Costa Rica and adopted by WHO last month.
PS: a worrying quote (on GAVI’s Covax AMC):
“
An internal white paper on COVID-19 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation estimates that production, procurement, and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to low-income and middle-income countries would cost up to $74 billion in grants. This would help to “reduce the likelihood of … only the wealthiest [benefiting] from the vaccine”. Civil society organisations (CSOs) are critical of the secrecy surrounding a scheme of such import that is likely to lock up billions of aid dollars for many years to come at a time when global aid budgets are shrinking. “We are disappointed that [meaningful civil society engagement] has not been the case and that CSO involvement has thus far been piecemeal and at late stages of development and decision making”, says Karrar Karrar, access to medicines adviser for Save the Children….”
FT – EU to spend billions to secure coronavirus vaccine
https://www.ft.com/content/6c8c1b3b-318b-435c-9e4d-d9bf38ccd356
“
European Commission calls for advanced purchased deals with pharmaceutical companies for promising drugs.”
“Brussels plans to pump billions of euros into advance purchase deals with pharmaceutical companies for potential coronavirus vaccines, in a sign of intensifying rich country efforts to secure supplies of any future treatment. The EU proposes using a “large majority” of a €2.7bn emergency fund for the effort but is also committed to ensuring fair access worldwide to pandemic remedies, according to a draft European Commission strategy. The document, due to be discussed by EU health ministers on Friday, highlights the urgency of European efforts to escape a pandemic that has hit the populations and economies of many of its countries hard. … … EU officials insisted they were co-operating rather than competing with a similar initiative set up by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands — all of which are EU members — to secure access to some of the scores of vaccines under development internationally. … … The commission paper insists the EU will continue “playing its part in ensuring global access to the vaccine, irrespective of wealth”, despite campaigners’ fears of a squeeze on supplies to poorer nations.“ What we want to do is to secure sufficient supplies to our member states, while also taking global responsibility,” said another EU official.”
NYT - U.K. Lab to Sidestep Drug Industry to Sell Potential Virus Vaccine
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/world/europe/imperial-college-uk-vaccine-coronavirus.html
“
Imperial College aims to develop a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to manufacture and is forming a partnership to sell it in low-income countries and Britain.”
“A prominent British laboratory is forming a special partnership that would sidestep the drug industry to sell a potential vaccine against the coronavirus without profits or licensing fees in Britain and in low- and middle-income countries. … The British laboratory, at Imperial College London, could alter that landscape, in part because its technology has the potential to develop a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to manufacture than others, said Robin Shattock, the lead scientist on the project. If successful, he said, the vaccine’s lower cost could appeal to the large donor organizations that typically supply low-income countries, which make up much of the world. It could also provide a cheaper alternative in affluent countries. To make the vaccine as widely and cheaply available as possible, Professor Shattock said, Imperial College is creating what it calls a “social enterprise” — a special-purpose, for-profit company chartered to sell the inoculation. Imperial College is forming the company in partnership with the investment firm Morningside Ventures, which is based in Hong Kong. The new entity will be called VacEquity Global Health. Morningside Ventures was founded by the Chan family, which is also a major donor to the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard….”
“
Imperial College has promised that VacEquity Global Health will make its vaccine available at the lowest possible cost in Britain, as well as in low- and middle-income countries. VacEquity would work with specialized drug manufacturers, in a process similar to the production and sale of generic drugs.
The new company may charge higher prices in wealthier countries such as the United States, Singapore, or the Persian Gulf monarchies….”
WP - Coronavirus vaccine developers are chasing outbreaks before they disappear
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-vaccine-trials-astrazeneca-moderna/2020/06/09/48f28fea-a414-11ea-898e-b21b9a83f792_story.html
“
The top teams rushing to develop coronavirus vaccines are alerting governments, health officials and shareholders that they may have a big problem: The outbreaks in their countries may be getting too small to quickly determine whether vaccines work. A leader of the Oxford University group, one of the furthest ahead with human trials, admits the reality is paradoxical, even “bizarre,” but said the declining numbers of new infections this summer could be one of the big hurdles vaccine developers face in the global race to beat down the virus. Even as new cases are growing worldwide, transmission rates are falling in Britain, China and many of the hardest-hit regions in the United States — the three countries that have experimental vaccines ready to move into large-scale human testing in June, July and August….”
So they might have to be ‘creative’, including going overseas to other countries’ outbreaks. But that comes with big caveats as well.
Reuters - Bolsonaro threatens WHO exit as COVID-19 kills 'a Brazilian per minute'
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil/bolsonaro-threatens-who-exit-as-covid-19-kills-a-brazilian-per-minute-idUSKBN23C1TF
“
President Jair Bolsonaro threatened on Friday to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization after the U.N. agency warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the region….”
“… In comments to journalists later Friday, Bolsonaro said Brazil will consider leaving the WHO unless it ceases to be a “partisan political organization.” …”
For other dire news from Brazil, see
the Guardian -
Global report: Bolsonaro hides Brazil's coronavirus death toll and case totals .
Fortunately (via the Guardian),
a Supreme Court Judge ordered Bolsonaro to resume publishing Brazil Covid-19 data. And by now, the Brazil government already complied.
FT - Testing funds shortfall imperils Covid-19 fight, health groups warn
https://www.ft.com/content/339acc4d-9349-4c06-a74c-65f5f2353f9a
“
Donors have come under fire for giving coronavirus testing less than 3 per cent from a €10bn global emergency response fund, as healthcare groups warn that ignoring diagnostics threatens to undermine efforts to contain the pandemic. The tiny allocation from the pledges made so far to an EU-led international Covid-19 financial appeal falls far short of what is needed to support the rollout of potential treatments and vaccines, experts say. The row highlights growing tensions over how to divide up resources to control the worldwide health crisis, particularly in poorer countries where testing has been relatively scant so far. Dr Catharina Boehme, chief executive of the non-profit Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, warned that to starve testing of funding would be a “disaster” for efforts to control Covid-19 and work out where to deploy future treatments and vaccines. “We are facing a global testing crisis…” “… Testing is set to receive just €242m, or 2.5 per cent of the first €9.8bn in grants and loan guarantees raised by the international pledging drive, two-thirds of it from European sources, the European Commission said. That compares with 8 per cent for therapeutics, 23.5 per cent for vaccines and 45.5 per cent for strengthening health systems.”
“… Peter Sands, executive director of the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said $2bn was required to cover urgent immediate global coronavirus testing needs and another $6bn in the longer term. …” For more info on these figures, see
Global Fund -
Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator
UN News -UN SG Guterres backs a people’s vaccine
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2020-06-04/secretary-generals-video-message-global-vaccine-summit
Was important news from last week, at the start of the GAVI replenishment. Not quite sure everybody at the GAVI replenishment felt the same about such a ‘People’s vaccine’, though…
NPR - U.N. Chief: Security Council Gridlock Blocks Effective Coronavirus Response
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/09/873060941/u-n-chief-security-council-gridlock-blocks-effective-coronavirus-response
“…
gridlock in the U.N. Security Council — which can pass enforceable resolutions — has stalled any real action. That frustrates Guterres. "We see that the very dysfunctional relationship that exists today between the United States-China, United States-Russia, makes it practically impossible for the Security Council to take any meaningful decision that would be fundamental" to fight COVID-19 effectively, he said….”
Devex - Africa CDC rolls out strategy to ramp up coronavirus testing
https://www.devex.com/news/africa-cdc-rolls-out-strategy-to-ramp-up-coronavirus-testing-97408
“
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention rolled out a new initiative [last week on ] Thursday to ramp up the COVID-19 response across the continent. Known as the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing in Africa, or PACT, the initiative aims to ramp up testing, contact tracing, and treatment of cases on the continent….”
“Through this initiative, Africa CDC is putting forth a “call to action” to governments, as well as pledging to support the testing of 10 million people over the next four months, the deployment of 1 million community health workers, who will be involved in contact tracing, as well as the training of 100,000 health care workers. … …. As part of the initiative, PACT also plans next week to launch a continentwide procurement, storage, and distribution platform for health commodities needed in the COVID-19 response. …. This new platform will allow countries to put in requests for diagnostic kits at an agreed-upon, competitive price. It will be a “game changer,” Nkengasong said. “You don’t need to search the market anymore because we have searched that market for you and accumulated and secured those products,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to unlock the supply chain management for the commodities that we need to fight COVID-19.” … … Five African countries will initially test out the platform. … … PACT is part of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19, which was launched in February….”
Xinhua - China to make COVID-19 vaccine global public good: official
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-06/07/c_139120961.htm
“China will make its COVID-19 vaccine a global public good when it is ready for application after successful research and clinical trials, a senior Chinese official said Sunday.”
Guardian - EU says China behind 'huge wave' of Covid-19 disinformation
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/eu-says-china-behind-huge-wave-covid-19-disinformation-campaign
“
China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a “huge wave” of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic. The European commission said Russia and China were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally”. While the charge against Russia has been levelled on many occasions, this is the first time the EU executive has publicly named China as a source of disinformation….”
Guardian - World faces worst food crisis for at least 50 years, UN warns
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/09/world-faces-worst-food-crisis-50-years-un-coronavirus
“
The world stands on the brink of a food crisis worse than any seen for at least 50 years, the UN has warned as it urged governments to act swiftly to avoid disaster. Better social protections for poor people are urgently needed as the looming recession following the coronavirus pandemic may put basic nutrition beyond their reach, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Tuesday. “Unless immediate action is taken, it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food emergency that could have long-term impacts on hundreds of millions of children and adults,” he said. “We need to act now to avoid the worst impacts of our efforts to control the pandemic.”…”
See also
UN News -
Invest in humanitarian relief now, to limit possible ‘catastrophic’ impact of coronavirus.
“
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) heard strong appeals on Tuesday for more funds to be steered into the UN’s COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, as it opened its annual Humanitarian Affairs Segment – the first to be held via video-teleconference. … … UN relief chief and emergency coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said that the Response Plan – the international community’s primary fundraising vehicle to respond to the impact of the coronavirus in low and middle-income countries – needs $6.7 billion to cover the period until December. But so far, at almost $1.2 billion, it is only 17.4 per cent funded, he added.”
“…
Warning that the pandemic “has the potential to be catastrophic in the developing world”, Mr. Lowcock said that the cost of protecting the most vulnerable 10 per cent of people in the world’s poorest countries, is about $90 billion. That is a significant sum, but it also one that is affordable, equal to just 1 per cent of what the world’s richest countries are putting into place to save the global economy, he stated….”
Bhekisa - People living with HIV, TB at two to three-fold higher risk of COVID-19 death
https://bhekisisa.org/health-news-south-africa/2020-06-09-people-living-with-hiv-tb-at-two-to-three-fold-higher-risk-of-covid-19-death/
“
The Western Cape has released South Africa’s first local data, which finds that although people with these common illnesses are more vulnerable to COVID-19, they are less likely to die from the new coronavirus than many previously thought. People with TB and HIV have a two to three-fold increased risk of dying of COVID-19, according to data released by the Western Cape health department today. Although the data shows an increased risk, the risk is lower than what researchers expected. As part of its analysis, the Western Cape reviewed 12 987 COVID-19 cases in its public sector, including 435 deaths. The department found that just over half of COVID-19 deaths were due to diabetes. In contrast, about one in 10 fatalities from the new coronavirus was due to being HIV positive and 2% were due to having active TB, departmental public health medicine specialist Mary-Ann Davies announced during a Bhekisisa and Aurum Institute webinar on Wednesday….”
You might also want to read (Stat)
- ‘Flying blind’: Doctors race to understand what Covid-19 means for people with HIV
Or see
Devex -
South Africa data shows higher COVID-19 death rates for people with HIV, TB
“
South Africa’s data found that people living with HIV had a 2.75 times increased risk of death, whereas those living with TB had a 2.5 times increased risk. It also found that HIV positive people on treatment, who are virally suppressed, and those who are not virally suppressed, both had an increased risk. “This is not what we expected. We thought if there was any increased risk of death associated with HIV, that it would be driven by people not being on treatment and having poorer immune function. But it seems that whatever is going on is a little bit more complicated than that,” Davies said. “There’s clearly a whole lot of research that needs to be done to really understand this more fully.” Although the data shows an increased risk for those with HIV or TB, it is still much smaller than other risk factors, including diabetes.”
Covid-19 funding/advocacy/initiatives
Devex Op-Ed – The cost of privatizing aid
S Joudeh;
https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-the-cost-of-privatizing-aid-97395
Safa Joudeh trashes the current Covid-19 “relief packages” from World Bank and, to a lesser extent perhaps, IMF. “ …
even as higher-income countries are ramping up social relief spending to manage the worst effects of the crisis on their citizens, Washington-based institutions are advising poor countries to follow more conventional measures. In recent weeks, the World Bank has rolled out relief programs that prioritize market-driven solutions and fiscal objectives in low-income countries — measures that will limit the universal access of their populations to social protections and leave the world’s most vulnerable people to bear the brunt of the coming shocks….”
Instead, she says, “…
greater share of support funding should be directed toward emergency relief for health services to support public health responses to the pandemic and to expanding social protections, particularly to vulnerable populations that fall outside of World Bank “workfare” job retention schemes. Beyond emergency interventions, international partners can assist by making credible commitments to support the resilience of economies with the highest concentration of low-income populations, and reorienting their policies toward bolstering, rather than limiting the capacity of national governments to respond to the needs of their citizens. Critically, removing conditionality and supporting the reorganization of governments’ financing costs would assist them in boosting health care spending, establishing economic safety nets and launching public investment programs to incentivize production.”
Guardian - World Bank warns Covid-19 pandemic risks dramatic rise in poverty
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/08/world-bank-warns-covid-19-pandemic-risks-dramatic-rise-in-poverty
“As many as 90% of the 183 economies are expected to suffer from falling levels of GDP in 2020.”
See also
WB (blog – 8 June) -
Updated estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty
Sobering news. “
In April we estimated that COVID-19 is pushing between 40 and 60 million into extreme poverty. Since then, the epicenter of the pandemic has shifted from Europe and North America to the global south. This has increased the death toll in low- and middle-income countries, induced longer shutdowns, and increased the economic costs of the pandemic. As a result, our estimates of the impact of the virus on global poverty have shifted as well. … … Under the baseline scenario we estimate that COVID-19 will push 71 million into extreme poverty , measured at the international poverty line of $1.90 per day. With the downside scenario, this increases to 100 million. Projecting what happens in 2021 and beyond comes with even more uncertainty….”
UNU Wider - Press release: COVID-19 could drive global poverty back over one billion people as the world’s poorest face up to US$500 million per day in lost income.
A Sumner et al ;
https://www.wider.unu.edu/news/press-release-covid-19-could-drive-global-poverty-back-over-one-billion-people-world%E2%80%99s-poorest
“In dramatic new numbers researchers estimate that extreme poverty could spike as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the day the postponed meeting of the world’s richest nations, the G7, should have finished.”
“The researchers are now calling for urgent global leadership from the G7, G20, and the multilateral system, and propose a three-point plan to address the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty quickly. The paper, Precarity and the Pandemic: COVID-19 and Poverty Incidence, Intensity and Severity in Developing Countries, finds that: Extreme poverty could rise to over 1 billion people globally as a result of the crisis. The cost of the crisis in lost income could reach US$500 million per day for the world’s poorest people, and the intensity and severity of poverty are likely to be exacerbated dramatically. The estimates show that poverty is likely to increase dramatically in middle-income developing countries and there could be a significant change in the distribution of global poverty. The location of global poverty could shift back towards developing countries in South Asia and East Asia.”
Coverage for example in
Reuters -
Coronavirus crisis could see number of extreme poor rise to 1.1 billion worldwide: researchers.
Independent - Coronavirus: Africa has to weather coronavirus fallout without stimulus provided in US, Asia and Europe
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/coronavirus-africa-covid-19-stimulus-us-asia-europe-a9552486.html
“
For advanced economies dealing with economic disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic, the response of choice has been massive stimulus packages. Africa is doing without them. While central banks and governments in North America, Asia and Europe have offered trillions of dollars to prop up businesses hit by lockdowns and provide a safety net for the swelling ranks of the unemployed, a lack of liquidity restricts African governments from providing similar relief….”
NYT - Despite Big Promises, U.S. Has Delivered Limited Aid in Global Virus Response
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/us/politics/coronavirus-humanitarian-aid-united-states.html
“The State Department and U.S.A.I.D. have spent a fraction of the humanitarian assistance that Congress approved in March to help curb the coronavirus.”
“… The Trump administration has lauded itself as leading the world in confronting the coronavirus. But it has so far failed to spend more than 75 percent of the American humanitarian aid that Congress provided three months ago to help overseas victims of the virus. In two spending bills in March, lawmakers approved $1.59 billion in pandemic assistance to be sent abroad through the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development. As of last week, $386 million had been released to nations in need, according to a government official familiar with the spending totals that the State Department has reported to Congress for both agencies. That money was delivered through private relief groups and large multinational organizations, including United Nations agencies, that provide health and economic stability funding and humanitarian assistance around the globe….”
Global Times - China suspends debt repayment for 77 developing nations, regions
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1190790.shtml
“China has announced the suspension of debt repayment for 77 developing countries and regions as the nation is working with other G20 members to carry out the G20 debt relief initiative for low-income countries, Chinese officials said at a press briefing at the State Council Information Office on Sunday….”
But not much detail yet.
AP - China’s companies emerge as global donors in virus pandemic
https://apnews.com/79d868269d9ebc180a8299759d698626
“
As the coronavirus spread, the world’s richest communist dug into his deep pockets. Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and a member of the ruling Communist Party, helped to pay for 1,000 ventilators delivered to New York in April. Ma’s foundation also is giving ventilators, masks and other supplies in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The pandemic marks the debut of China’s business elite as global humanitarian donors alongside their American, European and Japanese counterparts. Ma, Alibaba and other Chinese companies and tycoons are donating hundreds of millions of dollars of medical supplies, food and cash in dozens of countries….”
Devex - Loans for social protection could be a 'game-changer' for France's COVID-19 aid
https://www.devex.com/news/loans-for-social-protection-could-be-a-game-changer-for-france-s-covid-19-aid-97441
“
The French development agency is seeing rising demand for social protection support as countries try to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. But the Agence Française de Développement had not foreseen this at the beginning of the outbreak, Christophe Paquet, head of the health and social protection unit at the AFD, told Devex. He said AFD has received requests for this type of support — which comes in the form of sovereign loans — from countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Dominican Republic. “That's something that's new and … could be a game-changer for us. Because in terms of overall volumes, we foresee that maybe by the end of the year, we may end up with €2 billion-€3 billion loans on this sector,” he said. If this continues, it could change the overall amount of money that AFD will devote to the sector, Paquet said by phone last week. In 2019, AFD committed €175 million ($196 million) for social protection, he said. Paquet said countries’ perception of social protection is changing with the crisis. “I don't have the feeling that that was on top of the agenda in many countries before, and what the crisis is highlighting is the importance of inequalities that are deepening, also because of the crisis, and the social consequences that this may bear. So that's the big game-changer,” he said….”
“AFD has also increased its support for health amid the pandemic. In April, it launched the Health in Common initiative, which consists of €150 million in grants and €1 billion in concessional loans, to help countries’ response. The focus is on French-speaking countries in Africa….”
Stat News - AstraZeneca lays out plan for producing 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine, if it works
Stat
News from late last week. “
The drug giant AstraZeneca said Thursday that it has found partners to manufacture and distribute 2 billion doses of the experimental Covid-19 vaccine created by Oxford University, inking a series of deals with non-government organizations and another manufacturer. AstraZeneca said that CEPI and Gavi, public-private partnerships aimed at developing and distributing vaccines, would spend $750 million to manufacture and make available 300 million doses of the vaccine to distribute by the end of the year — assuming the vaccine is shown to be safe and effective. It also reached a licensing agreement with SII, previously known as the Serum Institute of India, to supply 1 billion doses of the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries. SII committed to provide 400 million doses before the end of 2020….”
Covid-19 science
Reuters - Coronavirus may have spread in Wuhan in August, Harvard research shows, but China dismissive
Reuters;
“
The coronavirus might have been spreading in China as early as August last year, according to Harvard Medical School research based on satellite images of hospital travel patterns and search engine data, but China dismissed the report as “ridiculous”….”
See also
FT Health -
China rejects Harvard study suggesting Covid-19 was circulating last summer
Cidrap News - COVID-19–linked syndrome in kids new, distinct, studies suggest
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/06/covid-19-linked-syndrome-kids-new-distinct-studies-suggest
“The United States must lead in the global response to COVID-19 and that will require advocates to convince Congress to commit resources, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at an event Tuesday.”
““Our health system was overwhelmed, our public health institutions did not meet the moment as we would have hoped, our leadership has been erratic, inconsistent, incoherent. So we have a lot of work to do at home … but the United States must lead on the international front as well,” she said at a virtual event organized by CARE. Clinton went on to say that she fully supports the organization’s campaign to convince Congress to appropriate money for the global coronavirus response. CARE, and other humanitarian and development organizations, are advocating for Congress to provide $12 billion in additional funding. The most recent bill that passed the House of Representatives did not include global funding, and a bill from Senate Democrats proposes about $9 billion. …”
Stat News - Study: Hydroxychloroquine had no benefit for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, possibly closing door to use of drug
Stat;
That debate is closed now, we hope – after results from the
RECOVERY study in the UK.
“…
a major clinical trial showed the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine had no benefit for patients hospitalized with Covid-19, likely closing the door to the use of the highly publicized medicine in the sickest patients — a use for which it was widely prescribed as the pandemic hit the U.S. The results come from a study called RECOVERY, funded by the U.K. government, that sought to randomly assign large numbers of patients to multiple potential treatments in the country’s National Health Service. The goal was to rapidly get answers as to what worked and what didn’t….”
See also
Science News -
Three big studies dim hopes that hydroxychloroquine can treat or prevent COVID-19.
Guardian - Breakthrough close on coronavirus antibody therapy: reports
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/07/breakthrough-close-on-coronavirus-antibody-therapy-reports
“
Scientists working on coronavirus treatments may be close to a breakthrough on an antibody treatment that could save the lives of people who become infected, it has been reported. An injection of cloned antibodies that counteract Covid-19 could prove significant for those in the early stages of infection, according to the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca….”
Telegraph - Bald men at higher risk of severe case of Covid-19, research finds
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bald-men-higher-risk-severe-case-covid-19-research-finds/
Yes, we have a slight conflict of interest here
😊. “Researchers suggested that baldness should be considered a risk factor, dubbing it the 'Gabrin sign'.”
As somebody put it on Twitter, let’s hope they controlled for age, though.
Atlantic - COVID-19 Can Last for Several Months
Atlantic
“
The disease’s “long-haulers” have endured relentless waves of debilitating symptoms—and disbelief from doctors and friends.”
Guardian - Are we underestimating how many people are resistant to Covid-19?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/07/immunological-dark-matter-does-it-exist-coronavirus-population-immunity
“
Scientists are racing to work out why some populations have fared better than others during the pandemic.”
Quote:
“… One thing seems clear: there are many reasons why one population is more protected than another. Theoretical epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford thinks that a key one is immunity that was built up prior to this pandemic. “It’s been my hunch for a very long time that there is a lot of cross-protection from severe disease and death conferred by other circulating, related bugs,” she says. Though that cross-protection may not protect a person from infection in the first place, it could ensure they only experience relatively mild symptoms….”
Nature - The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic
S Hsiang et al;
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2404-8_reference.pdf
Widely reported this week. “….
Here, we compile new data on 1,717 local, regional, and national non-pharmaceutical interventions deployed in the ongoing pandemic across localities in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France, and the United States (US). … … In the absence of policy actions, we estimate that early infections of COVID-19 exhibit exponential growth rates of roughly 38% per day. We find that anti-contagion policies have significantly and substantially slowed this growth. Some policies have different impacts on different populations, but we obtain consistent evidence that the policy packages now deployed are achieving large, beneficial, and measurable health outcomes. We estimate that across these six countries, interventions prevented or delayed on the order of 62 million confirmed cases, corresponding to averting roughly 530 million total infections. …”
Coverage in
The Washington Post.
For a related study from this week, see
Nature Preview -
Estimating the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions in Europe.
In 11 European countries, that is. Apparently, strict shutdowns have saved there 3.1 million lives.
See also Imperial College -
Lockdown and school closures in Europe may have prevented 3.1m deaths
Nature News – Why do children avoid the worst coronavirus symptoms? The answer might lie in their arteries
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01692-z?utm_source=twt_nnc&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=naturenews
“
Evidence is mounting that healthy blood vessels protect children from serious complications of COVID-19, such as stroke.”
NYT – Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
“… Here is the status of all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans, along with a selection of promising vaccines still being tested in cells or animals.”
Science Editorial – COVID-19 and flu, a perfect storm
E Belongia & M Osterhölm;
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6496/1163
“The world is in uncharted waters for the 2020 respiratory virus season. For the first time in modern history, the Northern Hemisphere faces the prospect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and a simultaneous epidemic of seasonal influenza. Each causes life-threatening illness and death, especially in older adults, people with chronic diseases, and other vulnerable populations. How can we prepare for this convergence?...”
“…
The prospect of a second COVID-19 wave requires planning to ensure optimal delivery of influenza vaccines starting in the early fall…. … ill there be a perfect storm of COVID-19 and influenza during the 2020–2021 season? We do not yet know, but we must start preparing in the coming months.”
Covid-19 Analysis
From various angles.
Global Health Science & Practice (Editorial Commentary)- Will the Higher-Income Country Blueprint for COVID-19 Work in Low- and Lower Middle-Income Countries?
S Hodgins et al ;
https://www.ghspjournal.org/content/ghsp/early/2020/06/08/GHSP-D-20-00217.full.pdf
Guess you know the answer by now. “
Strategies currently pursued in high-income and upper middle-income countries—aimed at radically suppressing incidence of COVID-19—may be unrealistic and counterproductive in most low- and lower middle-income countries. Instead, strategies need to be tailored to the setting, balancing expected benefits, potential harms, and feasibility.”
Telegraph - Conflict and crisis set to increase in wake of coronavirus pandemic
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/conflict-crisis-set-increase-wake-coronavirus-pandemic/
“'The worst is yet to come' from Covid-19 as most fragile countries will suffer most.”
“The coronavirus pandemic will lead to an increase in political instability, civil unrest and violence, undoing many years of socio-economic development, a new report has warned. In its annual global peace index the Institute for Economics and Peace said that the conflicts and crises over the last few years have begun to abate “only to be replaced with a new wave of tension and uncertainty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic”. It adds to a growing chorus of concern that the world's least developed countries will be the mostly badly hit by the pandemic….”
Foreign Affairs - The Pandemic and Political Order
F Fukuyama;
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-06-09/pandemic-and-political-order
Analysis by Fukuyama, who sounds, by and large, quite pessimistic about the future.
But first on factors key for successful response: “…
It is already clear why some countries have done better than others in dealing with the crisis so far, and there is every reason to think those trends will continue. It is not a matter of regime type. Some democracies have performed well, but others have not, and the same is true for autocracies. The factors responsible for successful pandemic responses have been state capacity, social trust, and leadership. Countries with all three—a competent state apparatus, a government that citizens trust and listen to, and effective leaders—have performed impressively, limiting the damage they have suffered. Countries with dysfunctional states, polarized societies, or poor leadership have done badly, leaving their citizens and economies exposed and vulnerable.”
The global picture then, in the future: “…
The global distribution of power will continue to shift eastward, since East Asia has done better at managing the situation than Europe or the United States. … … Over the years to come, the pandemic could lead to the United States’ relative decline, the continued erosion of the liberal international order, and a resurgence of fascism around the globe. It could also lead to a rebirth of liberal democracy, a system that has confounded skeptics many times, showing remarkable powers of resilience and renewal. Elements of both visions will emerge, in different places. Unfortunately, unless current trends change dramatically, the general forecast is gloomy….”
Guardian - Ignore the conspiracy theories: scientists know Covid-19 wasn't created in a lab
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/09/conspiracies-covid-19-lab-false-pandemic?CMP=share_btn_tw
“Instead of following false claims, we should be focusing our efforts on the regions where the next pandemic is likely to emerge.” By
Peter Daszak, president of
EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to analysing and preventing pandemics.
SS&M - The structural vulnerability of healthcare workers during COVID-19: Observations on the social context of risk and the equitable distribution of resources
C Smith;
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620303385
“
Healthcare workers have emerged as a vulnerable population group during COVID-19, and securing supply chains of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been identified as a critical issue to protect healthcare workers and to prevent health system overwhelm. While securing PPE is a complex logistical challenge facing many countries, it is vital to recognise the social and health systems issues that structure the differential degrees of risk faced by various subgroups of healthcare workers. As an illustrative case study, the author identifies two key social factors that are likely to face the degrees of risk faced by midwives in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, if and when COVID-19 takes hold in Indonesia….”
Project Syndicate - Explaining the Pandemic Performance Differential
Jim O’Neill;
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sustainable-growth-more-effective-government-covid19-by-jim-o-neill-2020-06
“
Although a country's success in managing the COVID-19 crisis depends on many variables, there is a striking correlation between today's performance and past economic-development rankings. Countries that have consistently achieved broadly shared dynamic growth have proved far more capable of containing the first wave of the pandemic.” Not fully convincing, but one factor among a number, yes.
BMJ Global Health - Ethnic and racial disparities in COVID-19-related deaths: counting the trees, hiding the forest
S Yaya, R Labonté et al ;
https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/6/e002913
“
COVID-19 has further exposed the strong association between race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status and health outcomes and illuminated monumental ethnoracialised differences reflecting the ‘colour of disease’. Racism, segregation and inequality have been invisibly and pervasively embedded in dominant cultures and social institutions for decades. The socioeconomic factors that negatively influence health outcomes within the underserved minority communities must be identified and contextualised within historical, political, social and economic remits. Acquisition of disaggregated data will be vital in identifying gaps in the social determinants of these health disparities and tailoring global policy responses.”
WEF - Pandemics are here to stay. Here's how to prepare for the next one
M V Frandsen;
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/pandemics-are-here-to-stay-heres-how-we-should-prepare-for-the-next-one/
“
Pandemics like COVID-19 are set to become part of our new normal. We have to learn how to respond to future outbreaks effectively and with the least economic damage. Active strategies and well-resourced healthcare organizations should be the cornerstones of any future pandemic response.”
Or cfr a tweet: „
What have we learned about preparing for pandemics? Most importantly, we don’t have an economy if we don’t have public health. If this viral #pandemic has shown us anything it is that good #publichealth at home and abroad is an investment-not an expense.“
The ‘Ostrich Alliance’: Coronavirus and the world leaders embracing denial, quackery and conspiracy
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/ostrich-alliance-coronavirus-world-leaders-heads-sand/
You know us, we can’t resist such a term: t
he “Ostrich Alliance” 😊 “
While many global governments responded swiftly to the threat of Covid-19, others have buried their collective head in the sand.” Check whether your country (leader) is part of this Alliance.
CGD (blog) COVID-19 Response Underlines the Need for Portable Social Protection Programs
A Gelb et al ;
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/covid-19-response-underlines-need-portable-social-protection-programs
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for a universal and portable social protection system that can uniquely verify people and deliver benefits efficiently and at scale. In most cases, existing programs are not portable, meaning those who live and work in a place other than where they are registered—like many who have migrated domestically for work—are unable to access benefits.”
BMJ (blog) - Contact tracing for covid-19 in low- and middle-income countries
N Homaira et al ;
BMJ blog;
Focus on Bangladesh here.
Guardian - Cuba sets example with successful programme to contain coronavirus
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/07/cuba-coronavirus-success-contact-tracing-isolation?CMP=share_btn_tw
“
While the WHO has signalled that Latin America is the new centre of the pandemic, cases in the communist-ruled island have fallen for two months.” More than time to have a proper look at what Cuba seems to be doing right.
African Arguments – Epidemics and Social Observation: Why Africa Needs a Different Approach to Covid-19
https://africanarguments.org/2020/06/01/epidemics-and-social-observation-why-africa-needs-a-different-approach-to-covid-19/
By Ebola-anthropologist Paul Richards.
Democracy in Africa - The political economy of the fight against COVID19 in Africa
Clement Sefa-nyarko;
http://democracyinafrica.org/political-economy-fight-covid19-africa/
Includes
a five-point plan.
CGD (blog) - In the Race to Develop A Vaccine For COVID-19, Is A Pull For R&D Essential Or Optional?
K Chalkidou et al;
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/race-develop-vaccine-covid-19-pull-rd-essential-or-optional#.Xt4tPfyoy5E.twitter
“
On June 4 Gavi and partners launched a COVID-19 Vaccine AMC, one element of a broader facility for securing access to the vaccine(s) for all those in need, when these become available. As more information on their design and scope becomes available we will be delving into the details of these arrangements.”
“The global race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is far from conventional. An effective vaccine would offer one of the few credible exit paths from the world’s worst public health and economic crisis in recent history. Is a pull for R&D essential or optional?”
Cfr a tweet: “Govs are investing unprecedented $ in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.
On top of this big "push", do we also need "pull" incentives for development? We argue yes--and rebut 3 of the most common arguments to the contrary”
CGD (blog) Early Health Technology Assessment for a COVID-19 Vaccine
C Painter et al ;
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/early-health-technology-assessment-covid-19-vaccine
“
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, it has become increasingly accepted that day-to-day life will not return to anything close to normality until a vaccine or effective treatment is available and widely accessible.” “… As countries, individually and in coalitions, prepare for a vaccine to become available, they should consider conducting early health technology assessment so they are ready for the pricing negotiations and coverage decisions to come….”
CGD (blog) - What Does Success Look Like for a COVID-19 Vaccine? Improving Portfolio Level Understanding
A McDonnell et al ;
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/what-does-success-look-covid-19-vaccine-improving-portfolio-level-understanding#disqus_thread
“
Around the world COVID-19 and the policy responses to it are causing unprecedented disruptions of life and wellbeing. As scientists and governments around the world race to develop a vaccine at scale, we take a look at what a portfolio approach entails and why it is so important.”
The Telegraph - We need a vaccine against Covid-19 as soon as possible – but countries cannot go it alone
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/need-vaccine-against-covid-19-soon-possible-countries-cannot/
“Our greatest hope to end this pandemic quickly is through collective action”, argue
Seth Berkley (GAVI) & R Hatchett (CEPI). Which begs the question why don’t refer at all to WHO’s voluntary pool in this op-ed…
Stat Op-Ed – Collective intelligence, not market competition, will deliver the best Covid-19 vaccine
https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/10/collective-intelligence-not-market-competition-deliver-best-covid-19-vaccine/
By
Els Torreele. Instead of the current “market competition” driven race, “we need to create a radically open and collaborative global vaccine R&D endeavor under a collective governance mechanism.”
Global Dashboard - How COVID-19 may be as significant as 9/11 for global migration policy
A Buonfino;
https://www.globaldashboard.org/2020/06/09/how-covid-19-may-be-as-significant-as-9-11-for-global-migration-policy/
“…
Throughout history, migration has always been a controversial policy and social issue. Times of fear and insecurity always make it more so and emergencies justify policy measures that would normally seem too harsh or rushed in ‘normal’ times. After 9/11, countries closed down. Many blamed decades of lax approaches to migration for a situation that allowed ‘enemies of liberal democracies’ and haters to poison our societies and attack us from within. In most countries, we gradually saw discourses that associated migration with security (a connection that had been already made but which 9/11 legitimised), justifying tougher policies and in some cases, opening the door to a resurgence in populism…. “
… The COVID-19 pandemic could be the next trigger point. Like 9/11, it is invisible, it is global, it transcends borders, and it is carried by people; it provokes panic and jobs insecurity and its impact on the global economy will be significant. Worse than 9/11, the pandemic is affecting most of the world and has led at varying points to the almost universal closure of borders, affecting people flows and global travel in a way that we hadn’t seen before. It has trapped people within countries, often without rights or access to healthcare. … … COVID-19 has already put a stop to any form of legal migration, potentially discouraging most forms of people flows through quarantines and border closures; refugee programmes are mostly on hold and anyone crossing borders illegally is likely be expelled swiftly. … … Over the next 12 months, as travel gradually commences and the sheer scale of domestic unemployment reveals the long-term scale of the problem, we will undoubtedly see rising attitudes against immigration in many countries around the world. This will be tempered by awareness that many of those frontline workers whose courage we have celebrated are indeed immigrants, at risk of contagion because of the work they do. … … In recent years, the accelerating cross-border flow of migrants has made and remade the politics of Europe and the United States. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic will be a turning point once again for immigration policies in most countries. The danger of rising populism (particularly in those countries where populists are currently the opposition), the scapegoating of migrants, and anti-immigrant feeling is live and real….”
HPW - Switzerland – World Coronavirus Champion
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/switzerland-world-coronavirus-champion/
Tricky ranking, but worth a look nevertheless. With 4 tiers.
“
Switzerland is now the world’s safest country since the pandemic started, followed by Germany and Israel, according to a Regional Safety Assessment of 200 territories and regions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Asia and Europe were the regions most successful in fighting the coronavirus although there were wide variations within Europe in terms of how countries really performed, according to the report by Deep Knowledge Group, an international consortium of commercial and non-profit organizations that applies progressive data-driven solutions to healthcare. Said the report: “On average, Asia and Europe appear to be maintaining regional safety more efficiently than the rest of the world.” …”
Check which tier your country is in. The US, UK and Brazil are all in tier 3 (the one but worst tier). Belgium also.
Well, at least this ranking already feels a bit more accurate than the notorious GHS index (where US & UK topped the list).
BMJ blog – Non communicable diseases and covid-19: a perfect storm
Nina Schwalbe et al;
BMJ blog;
“
For decades academics and policy makers have warned of the risks of a viral pandemic with effects as devastating as the Spanish Flu in 1918. What they did not anticipate, however, was its interaction with a co-existing pandemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Covid-19 is that perfect storm, particularly for poorer communities, where NCDs and their risk factors are disproportionally high among all age groups….”
“…The global response has been to treat covid-19 as a vertical disease rather than addressing the full ecosystem of our response to covid-19 or its interaction with NCDs and poverty. This is particularly urgent given that poverty is now both a driver of covid related mortality and an outcome of the response….”
“Given the interaction between covid-19 and NCDs, we must urgently address the underlying drivers of the NCD pandemic that are fueling covid-19 mortality…. … To date, the global response to covid-19 has focused on covid-19 only and targeted the entire population rather than those most at risk. The result has been mass fear and confusion and, arguably, a tremendous misallocation of resources. However, as covid-19 continues to spread and there are concerns of a second wave, it is not too late to apply the tools of precision, evidence-based public health and move from a sole focus on covid-19 deaths to addressing the underlying drivers of morbidity and mortality. This means focusing prevention efforts on people suffering from NCDs and applying a Sustainable Development Goal agenda 2030 lens which looks past a single public health endpoint to address the multiple factors affecting population health.”
Do read also this
BMJ blog by J Lazarus et al
- Let’s envisage a new, better normal for all non communicable diseases
“…We urge politicians to engage with their constituents and stakeholders from across sectors and disciplines to come together to find common solutions to multiple challenges at once. We must strive for a “new normal” that is a “better normal,” one in which our towns and cities become the foundation upon which healthier and more sustainable societies are built.”
BMJ Editorial – Obesity and covid-19: the role of the food industry
M Tan et al
; https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2237
“The viral pandemic makes tackling the obesity pandemic even more urgent.” “…It is now clear that the food industry shares the blame not only for the obesity pandemic but also for the severity of covid-19 disease and its devastating consequences….”
BMJ Global Health (Commentary) - Bridging a false dichotomy in the COVID-19 response: a public health approach to the ‘lockdown’ debate
V Prasad et al ;
https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/6/e002909
“
The current approach to assessing risks and defining interventions in the COVID-19 pandemic takes a narrow medical/epidemiological view. A false dichotomy between saving lives and saving livelihoods has dominated the decision-making on responses to the pandemic. A comprehensive public health approach is needed that would address social determinants and medical requirements simultaneously, with equity as an overarching principle. A framework, including the major elements of COVID-19-related factors, health systems preparedness, non-COVID-19 medical conditions, social determinants and social protection, is proposed, with an illustration of its practical application. By taking the lived reality of the poor and marginalised into account, this framework provides communities with more agency than one-size-fits-all approaches to COVID-19 control.”
Working paper - Political and Social Correlates of Covid-19 Mortality
C M Bosancianu et al ;
https://wzb-ipi.github.io/corona/WD_paper.pdf
“Do political and social features of states help explain the evolving distribution of reported Covid-19 deaths? We identify national-level political and social characteristics that past research suggests may help explain variation in a society’s ability to respond to adverse shocks. We highlight four sets of arguments—focusing on (1) state capacity, (2) political institutions, (3) political priorities, and (4) social structures—and report on their evolving association with cumulative Covid-19 deaths. After accounting for a simple set of Lasso-chosen controls, we find that measures of government effectiveness, interpersonal and institutional trust, bureaucratic corruption and ethnic fragmentation are currently associated in theory-consistent directions. We do not, however, find associations between deaths and many other political and social variables that have received attention in public discussions, such as populist governments or women-led governments. Currently, the results suggest that state capacity is more important for explaining Covid-19 mortality than government accountability to citizens, with potential implications for how the disease progresses in high-income versus low-income countries. These patterns may change over time with the evolution of the pandemic, however. …”
Politico - The ‘hard slog’ of waiting for a coronavirus vaccine
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/10/the-hard-slog-of-waiting-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine-310735
“Experts say mass testing, contact tracing, Covid treatments and basic public health are just as important.”
“A vaccine is not a given, says David Heymann (Chatham House).” “With this in mind, “waiting for a vaccine is a poor, poor exit strategy," Heymann argues. He and other experts say that the idea that a vaccine is the only way out could provide people with false hope and ignore other vital public health measures already at our disposal. “
Covid-19 impact on other global health programmes (& research)
Devex - NGOs defend breastfeeding as COVID-19 misinformation rages
https://www.devex.com/news/ngos-defend-breastfeeding-as-covid-19-misinformation-rages-97440
“
Misinformation about the safety of breastfeeding during the coronavirus pandemic has led to decreases in the practice by women who fear it could harm babies, NGOs say….”
Project Syndicate - Protecting Midwives and Mothers During the Pandemic
S Pairman & Roopa Dhatt;
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/protecting-midwives-and-mothers-during-covid19-pandemic-by-sally-pairman-and-roopa-dhatt-2020-06
“
As health systems battle to contain COVID-19, care for mothers-to-be has become a low priority. To keep midwives safe and enable them to continue providing women-centered care, governments, international donor agencies, and philanthropic organizations must allocate more funding for maternal health services.”
ASTMH - Nonessential Research in the New Normal: The Impact of COVID-19
S K Yanow et al;
http://www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0325
“
With an extraordinary show of solidarity, scientists across the globe have mobilized to combat novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Yet, for those who could not redirect their efforts to COVID-19, research came to a sudden standstill. Researchers at many institutions were first advised to “wind down” their research activities, and then, with little warning, laboratories were closed. Simultaneously, many clinical studies on diseases other than COVID-19 were halted in their tracks.
… Research on COVID-19 is considered essential, and rightly so, but we ask how research on other diseases was deemed “nonessential.”
BMJ Global Health (Commentary) - Where are the women? Gender inequalities in COVID-19 research authorship
A-C Pinho-Gomes et al ;
https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/7/e002922
“
Women account for about a third of all authors who published papers related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak in January 2020. Women’s representation is lower still for first and last authorship positions. Gender biases seem to be affecting COVID-19 research similar to other scientific areas, highlighting that women are consistently being under-represented. This may have implications for the availability and interrogation of sex-disaggregated data and therefore our understanding of COVID-19. These gender biases hint at wider gender inequalities in our global response to the pandemic, which may reduce the chance of dealing with it robustly and speedily. Women are under-represented as authors of research papers in many scientific areas, particularly in senior authorship positions.”
Covid-19 resources
Covid 19 Africa watch
https://covid19africawatch.org/africa-policy-monitor/#monetary-response
Useful database from
@Covid_Africa about
African governments' fiscal, monetary, and social distancing policies in response to the pandemic.
Black Lives Matter (& PH concern on ongoing pandemic)
FT - Protests in a pandemic present dilemma for scientists
https://www.ft.com/content/1eb3d4fe-11a3-454f-a403-10897b093b12
“Experts debate whether they should advise to stay at home or risk Covid-19.”
Quote: “
Jason Kindrachuk, a professor of microbiology at the University of Manitoba, said public health experts find themselves in a “weird and unfortunate position”. “We have to try to be empathetic to the message of the protesters, while understanding that we are in our worst-case scenario: being in a global pandemic,” he said. … Public health experts are also well aware that the African American community suffers disproportionately from Covid-19, partly because of a higher prevalence of underlying conditions exacerbated by poverty and racism. …”
Politico - Suddenly, Public Health Officials Say Social Justice Matters More Than Social Distance
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534
“
For months, health experts told Americans to stay home. Now, many are encouraging the public to join mass protests.”
Difficult debate – we thought WHO (and Tedros) found a good balance in their communication this week (see above). See
NPR Goats & Soda -
Even In A Pandemic, WHO Believes That Public Protests Are Important
The Atlantic – Public-Health Experts Are Not Hypocrites
J Marcus & G Gonsalves;
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/public-health-experts-are-not-hypocrites/612853/
Nice one. “Health is about more than simply remaining free of coronavirus infection.”
NYT - Corrosive Effects of Tear Gas Could Intensify Coronavirus Pandemic
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/tear-gas-risks-protests-coronavirus.html
“
Tear gas brings temporary misery by stinging eyes and throats. There’s also evidence that it may increase the risk of respiratory illness.”
Guardian - 'What does the UN stand for?': anger as staff told not to join anti-racism protests
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/09/what-does-the-un-stand-for-anger-as-staff-told-not-to-join-anti-racism-protests
“
Special rapporteur leads backlash after warning that support for action on George Floyd killing risks reputational damage.”
“The UN has told employees that as “international civil servants” they must not participate in public demonstrations protesting against the police killing of George Floyd, attracting criticism from the UN’s own special rapporteur on rights to freedom of assembly….”
LSHTM – Black Lives Matter
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/organisation/governance/equality-diversity-inclusion/black-lives-matter?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Black%20Lives%20Matter
Statement by
Peter Piot. On LSHTM’s commitment to ending racial injustice.
Nature (News) - Thousands of scientists worldwide to go on strike for Black lives
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01721-x
“
Academics and some scientific organizations [will] stop research activities on 10 June to reflect and take action on systemic inequalities in science.”
Call for special issue Journal of Decolonizing Disciplines – Decolonizing Global Health
https://jdd.up.ac.za/ojs/index.php/JDD/announcement/view/4
“
This special issue on the Decolonization of Global Health is rooted in a global “#DecolonizeGlobalHealth movement that has gained momentum among post-graduate students from reading in medical sciences, public health, and global health sciences faculties and programmes. …”
Deadline for abstract proposals: 15 July.
Lancet (Comment) - Racism, the public health crisis we can no longer ignore
D Devakumar et al
; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31371-4/fulltext
“…Society is unwell. The symptoms—racialised violence, and excess morbidity and mortality in minority ethnic populations—reflect the cause: an unjust and unequal society. Scientists and doctors, by remaining technocratic and apolitical, are complicit in perpetuating discrimination. As a health community, we must do more than simply describing inequities in silos, we must act to dismantle systems that perpetuate the multiple intersecting and compounding systems of oppression that give rise to such inequities and injustices. To this end, we are producing a series of academic papers to centre the complex challenges of racism and xenophobia in the health discourse. We are working with a diverse team of academics and activists globally to highlight injustices, identify solutions, and enact change. Alongside this, we are launching the Race & Health movement, a multi-disciplinary community of practice that will continue beyond the social media. Our vision is to provide a catalyst in tackling the adverse health effects of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination. Academic outputs on their own are irrelevant. We must use the evidence to advocate for change and improvements in health. In this spirit, we are launching a global consultation, asking: what should we do, and how should we do it? Racism kills, and this is a public health crisis we can no longer ignore. As a health community, where were we? As the hashtags disappear and we start to emerge from the pandemic, even in ordinary times, we need extraordinary measures….”
Lancet Editorial – Medicine and medical science: Black lives must matter more
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31353-2/fulltext
Today’s editorial in the Lancet.
“Racism is a public health emergency of global concern. …”
“…What can medical journals do? Our task is to educate ourselves and others about racism. We must support Black and minority ethnic health workers. And we must use evidence and our values to speak out for Black and minority ethnic communities. The Lancet
is a journal with a deep colonial history: the journal has published work that supported the health of settler colonialists and that prioritised their health over those who were dominated and oppressed. We need not only to acknowledge this history, but also to find ways to use science as an instrument for social change. We pledge our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. But we must now turn that pledge into concrete actions in our own work, through the research we publish, the authors we commission, and the individuals we choose to profile and recognise. We have a long way to go to fulfil these objectives. But we will.”
Big Tobacco loses
Tobacco plain packaging: Decisive legal victory should encourage more countries to follow Australia’s lead
https://www.mccabecentre.org/news-and-updates/tobacco-plain-packaging-legal-victory-for-australia.html
“
The latest win for Australia’s plain packaging laws spells the end of a decade-long legal battle with the tobacco industry and sets the stage for more countries to implement tobacco control measures. On 9 June, the World Trade Organization (WTO) dismissed an appeal filed by the Dominican Republic and Honduras, upholding a 2018 WTO panel ruling that plain packaging does not infringe international trade or intellectual property laws. WTO’s Appellate Body also confirmed the panel’s finding that Australia’s plain packaging laws are “apt to, and do in fact, contribute to Australia's objective of reducing the use of, and exposure to, tobacco products.” “This is an important ruling for Australia, and an enormous win for public health around the world,” says Suzanne Zhou, Acting Manager for Prevention at the McCabe Centre for Law & Cancer, which works with lawyers and policymakers worldwide on legal measures to prevent and control cancer. “This decisive ruling confirms that plain packaging is consistent with international trade law, and will give countries the confidence they need to move ahead with evidence-based and effective public health policy despite threats of litigation….”
Coverage HPW -
World Health Organization Welcomes Favorable World Trade Organization Ruling On Plain Tobacco Product Packaging
“…
The tobacco decision also served as the final nail in the coffin for the tobacco industry’s campaign against plain packaging, which has completely run out of international avenues to appeal such laws.”
Planetary Health
Bruno Latour – What protective measures can you think of so we don’t go back to the pre-crisis production model?
http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/P-202-AOC-ENGLISH.pdf
4-pager and well worth a read. Translated from French.
“
Perhaps it is a little inappropriate to project oneself into the post-crisis, just when the health workers are, as they say, ‘on the front line’, while millions of people lose their jobs and while many grieving families are not even able to bury their dead. And yet, it is right now that we have to fight so that the economic recovery, once the crisis has passed, does not bring back the same former climatic regime against which we were battling, until now somewhat in vain. In actuality, the health crisis is not embedded in a crisis (because they are always transitory), but in an ongoing, irreversible ecological mutation. If we are lucky enough to ‘come out of’ the first, there is no chance we will ‘come out of’ the second. The two situations are not on the same scale, but it is very enlightening to articulate with the one with the other. In any case, it would be a pity not to use the health crisis to discover other means of entering the ecological mutation without a blindfold on…”
Guardian - 'More masks than jellyfish': coronavirus waste ends up in ocean
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/08/more-masks-than-jellyfish-coronavirus-waste-ends-up-in-ocean
“A glut of discarded
single-use masks and gloves is washing up on shorelines and littering the seabed.”
Guardian - Covid-19 relief for fossil fuel industries risks green recovery plans
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/06/covid-19-relief-for-fossil-fuel-industries-risks-green-recovery-plans
“
Over $500bn is going to high-carbon industries undermining goals of Cop26 climate talks.”
“The vast majority of the stimulus money so far announced by governments around the world is set to prop up the fossil fuel economy, according to analyst company Bloomberg New Energy Finance. More than half a trillion dollars worldwide – $509bn (£395bn) – is to be poured into high-carbon industries, with no conditions to ensure they reduce their carbon output. Only about $12.3bn is to go towards low-carbon industries, such as renewable energy, and a further $18.5bn into high-carbon industries provided they achieve climate targets. … … At these rates, the rescue packages would be even less green than the economic stimulus following the 2008 financial crisis, despite government rhetoric on a green recovery, and pressure from economists and campaigners to use the stimulus packages to shift to a low-carbon footing.”
Guardian - ‘Rolling emergency’ of locust swarms decimating Africa, Asia and Middle East
Guardian;
“
Locust swarms threaten a “rolling emergency” that could endanger harvests and food security across parts of Africa and Asia for the rest of the year, experts warn.”
New Book – Degrowth in movement
C Bukhardt et al ;
https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/degrowth-movements#reviews
“A dictionary of social movements and alternatives for a future beyond economic growth, capitalism, and domination.”
“
Degrowth is an emerging social movement that overlaps with proposals for systemic change such as anti-globalization and climate justice, commons and transition towns, basic income and Buen Vivir. Degrowth in Movement(s) reflects on the current situation of social movements aiming at overcoming capitalism, industrialism and domination. The essays ask: What is the key idea of the respective movement? Who is active? What is the relation with the degrowth movement? What can the degrowth movement learn from these other movements and the other way around? Which common proposals, but also which contradictions, oppositions and tensions exist? And what alliances could be possible for broader systemic transformations?...”
Individual chapters can be downloaded
here. For the ones among you with little time, start with the
concluding chapter.
Or see a
summary piece in Open Democracy -
Degrowth and the emerging mosaic of alternatives
Finally, a sorry link:
Guardian -
Carbon emissions in 'surprisingly rapid' surge post-lockdown
“
Carbon dioxide emissions have rebounded around the world as lockdown conditions have eased, raising fears that the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could surge higher than ever after the coronavirus pandemic unless governments take swift action…”
Some papers and reports of the week
HP&P – Health system resilience: a literature review of empirical research
L Biddle et al;
https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czaa032/5856261?searchresult=1
“
The concept of health system resilience has gained popularity in the global health discourse, featuring in UN policies, academic articles and conferences. While substantial effort has gone into the conceptualization of health system resilience, there has been no review of how the concept has been operationalized in empirical studies. We conducted an empirical review in three databases using systematic methods… Despite extensive theoretical work on the domains which constitute health system resilience, we found that most of the empirical literature only addressed particular aspects related to absorptive and adaptive capacities, with legitimacy of institutions and transformative resilience seldom addressed. Qualitative and mixed methods research captured a broader range of resilience domains than quantitative research. The review shows that the way in which resilience is currently applied in the empirical literature does not match its theoretical foundations. In order to do justice to the complexities of the resilience concept, knowledge from both quantitative and qualitative research traditions should be integrated in a comprehensive assessment framework. Only then will the theoretical ‘resilience idea’ be able to prove its usefulness for the research community.”
New Report - Africa leads the way: harnessing multi-sectoral collaboration to achieve UHC
https://www.onebyone2030.org/report2020-africa-leads-the-way
“The Access Challenge and Harvard Global Health Institute. launched the One by One UHC Report, 'Africa Leads the Way: Harnessing Multi-Sectoral Collaboration to Achieve UHC' on June 5, 2020 at the Webinar "Finding Opportunity in Crisis: How to Use COVID-19 to Build Better UHC Systems in Africa.'”
“This report is an outcome of One by One UHC Conference 2019, which occurred alongside the 74th UN General Assembly. This report discusses the relationship between human health, climate change, and environmental resources such as water, food, and air, and their importance in achieving UHC in Africa. By focusing on access to nutritious food, clean water, and air as the building blocks of a healthy society, the report examines the relationship between diseases prevalent in Africa and these fundamental underlying causes. The Report also shows how if left unmitigated, climate change will undermine these critical multi-sectoral efforts to improve health.”
Health Research Policy & Systems - Health policy and systems research publications in Latin America warrant the launching of a new specialised regional journal
M A Gonzalez-Block et al;
https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12961-020-00565-1
“
Scientific journals play a critical role in research validation and dissemination and are increasingly vocal about the identification of research priorities and the targeting of research results to key audiences. No new journals specialising in health policy and systems research (HPSR) and focusing in the developing world or in a specific developing world region have been established since the early 1980s. This paper compares the growth of publications on HPSR across Latin America and the world and explores the potential, feasibility and challenges of innovative publication strategies….”
Among the conclusions
: “Researchers publishing on HPSR in LA widely support the launching of a new specialised journal for the region with a vigorous editorial policy focusing on regional and country priorities….”
HP&P - Approaches to integrating palliative care into African health systems: a qualitative systematic review
Lara Court & Jill Olivier;
https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czaa026/5854843?searchresult=1
“Africa is characterized by a high burden of disease and health system deficits, with an overwhelming and increasing demand for palliative care (PC). Yet only one African country is currently considered to have advanced integration of palliative care into medical services and generalized PC is said to be available in only a handful of others. The integration of PC into all levels of a health system has been called for to increase access to PC and to strengthen health systems. Contextually appropriate evidence to guide integration is vital yet limited. This qualitative systematic review analyses interventions to integrate PC into African health systems to provide insight into the ‘how’ of PC integration….”
Report (Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group) - Meeting the Challenge of Vaccination Hesitancy
https://www.sabin.org/programs/vaccine-acceptance/meeting-challenge-vaccination-hesitancy
“The end of the COVID-19 pandemic will depend on our ability to address vaccine hesitancy, one of the top 10 threats to global health, before a vaccine is put on the market. Meeting the Challenge of Vaccination Hesitancy, a report published in June 2020 by the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science & Policy Group, lays out actionable steps that leaders across healthcare, research, philanthropy and technology can take to build confidence in vaccines and vaccinations.”
“… Three ‘Big Ideas’ proposed in the report address the primary barriers to vaccine acceptance, provide a framework for progress, and sound a call to action. They are:
- A new media collaborative to serve as an interface between the vaccination community and social media platforms; (2); A research agenda to create ample evidence-based knowledge about the sources of vaccine hesitancy and the best ways to counter it; (3) A new narrative to shift the conversation around immunization to one that focuses on achievements and promise and helps build resiliency in the vaccine enterprise.”
HP&P - How do decision-makers use evidence in community health policy and financing decisions? A qualitative study and conceptual framework in four African countries
M B Kumar, E Barasa et al ;
https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czaa027/5855156?searchresult=1
“
Various investments could help countries deliver on the universal health coverage (UHC) goals set by the global community; community health is a pillar of many national strategies towards UHC. Yet despite resource mobilization towards this end, little is known about the potential costs and value of these investments, as well as how evidence on the same would be used in related decisions. This qualitative study was conducted to understand the use of evidence in policy and financing decisions for large-scale community health programmes in low- and middle-income countries. Through key informant interviews with 43 respondents in countries with community health embedded in national UHC strategies (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique) and at global institutions, we investigated evidence use in community health financing and policy decision-making, as well as evidentiary needs related to community health data for decision-making….”
HP&P - Utilization of traditional medicine in primary health care in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
J K Kim et al ;
https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/heapol/czaa022/5855157?redirectedFrom=fulltext
“This paper reports the findings from the first systematic review of the utilization of traditional medicine (TM) in primary health care (PHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)….”
Maintains (Working Paper) - What is a Shock-Responsive Health System?
Tom Newton-Lewis, Sophie Witter, Matt Fortnam, Andrew Seal, Peter Hailey, Rithika Nair, and Debbie Hillier.
https://maintainsprogramme.org/rc/working-paper-what-is-a-shock-responsive-health-system/
“
This working paper sets out a model of shock-responsiveness in health systems. The world is seeing an increased incidence of shocks – whether from natural hazards, epidemics like COVID-19, or conflict. Shocks are often responded to through humanitarian systems that run parallel to national public service delivery systems. This approach misses opportunities to strengthen national systems to manage future shocks, and is increasingly viewed as being unsustainable. This working paper sets out a model of shock-responsiveness in health systems, with the purpose of standardising the conceptual approach and facilitating comparative learning and synthesis. As a working document, Maintains is actively seeking feedback to refine and improve this model.”
HRPS - Health system decision-makers at the helm of implementation research: development of a framework to evaluate the processes and effectiveness of embedded approaches
N I Varralyay, E Langlois et al;
https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12961-020-00579-9
“
Embedded approaches to implementation research (IR), whereby health system decision-makers participate actively in the research process, are gaining traction as effective approaches to optimise the delivery of health programmes and policies. However, the evidence base on the processes and effectiveness of such collaborative research remains inchoate. Standardised approaches to evaluate these initiatives are needed to identify core elements of ‘embeddedness’, unveil the underlying pathways of change, and assess contribution to evidence uptake in decision-making and overall outcomes of effect. The framework presented in this paper responds to this need, designed to guide the systematic evaluation of embedded IR. This evaluation framework for embedded IR approaches is based on the experience of a joint initiative by the Pan American Health Organization/Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, which has supported 19 IR grants in 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries from 2014 to 2017….”
Safeguarding health in conflict (report 2019) – Health workers at risk: violence against health care
Safeguarding health in conflict
“
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition identified more than 1,203 reported incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in 20 countries and territories experiencing conflict in 2019, compared to the 973 we reported in 23 countries and territories for 2018. The higher number may be due to improved reporting rather than an increase in incidents. It is likely, however, that a large number of incidents still go unreported and that the number is even greater than reported here. At least 151 health workers died in 2019 [most in Syria] as a result of incidents in 18 countries and territories, and 502 health workers were injured in 17 countries. Health facilities were damaged or destroyed in at least 19 countries, and health transports were damaged or destroyed in at least 14 countries….”
New book – Global Health Economics: Shaping Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11045#t=aboutBook
Edited by P Revill et al.
Global Public Health – Global health research became the norm: A response to ‘what happened to the global forum for health research?
L Currat, A Ghaffar, A Hyder et al ;
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2020.1779330
Response by former staff of the Global Forum for Health Research, to an earlier piece by G Weisz.
Some other news (articles) of the week and a few blogs
AP - World leaders won’t gather at UN for first time in 75 years
https://apnews.com/32359e51b37ecae5687a38a7469d383c
“
The president of the U.N. General Assembly said Monday that world leaders will not be coming to New York for their annual gathering in late September for the first time in the 75-year history of the United Nations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Tijjani Muhammad-Bande told a news conference that he hopes to announce in the next two weeks how the 193 heads of state and government will give their speeches on pressing local and world issues during the assembly’s so-called General Debate….”
F1000 Research blog – Health technology assessment in sub-Saharan Africa: an initial survey of stakeholders
https://blog.f1000.com/2020/06/11/health-technology-assessment-in-sub-saharan-africa-an-initial-survey-of-stakeholders/
“
In this blog, Samantha Hollingworth, Francis Ruiz and Kalipso Chalkidou from the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), discuss the findings of their recently published Brief Report, which aims to rapidly assess current health system priorities and policy areas of demand for health technology assessment (HTA) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and identify key gaps in data and skills to inform targeted capacity building.”
New Humanitarian (Analysis) - This global pandemic could transform humanitarianism forever. Here’s how
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2020/06/08/coronavirus-transform-humanitarianism-aid
“‘
In humanitarian response, there will be a ‘before’ and ‘after’ COVID-19.’” True?
“…But as the crisis born of this global pandemic has evolved, some of the promises of deep transformation in a humanitarian aid sector that has long resisted reform have proven overly optimistic – at least so far. Here are 13 ways the pandemic may change the future of humanitarianism – and the forces of resistance that may get in the way….”
Devex - Opinion: On equity in the international development sector — we need more intravists
B Omakwu;
https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-on-equity-in-the-international-development-sector-we-need-more-intravists-97404
This was a new term for us, ‘intravism’ . “…Change requires a broad range of actors, who all move movements in different ways. While activism involves external efforts to bring about systemic change in society, intravism involves internal efforts to change organizational structures. Here are some of the issues that have become a focus of my intravism journey….”
BMJ (blog) - Tessa Richards: Will covid-19 change conferences for the better?
BMJ blog;
Worth a read. “
Today’s rapidly convened virtual events are pointing the way to a greener, more inclusive future.”
Forbes - 5 Economists Redefining… Everything. Oh Yes, And They’re Women
https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/05/31/5-economists-redefining-everything--oh-yes-and-theyre-women/#6d14828f714a
“
Few economists become household names. Last century, it was John Maynard Keynes or Milton Friedman. Today, Thomas Piketty has become the economists’ poster-boy. Yet listen to the buzz, and it is five female economists who deserve our attention. They are revolutionising their field by questioning the meaning of everything from ‘value’ and ‘debt’ to ‘growth’ and ‘GDP.’ Esther Duflo, Stephanie Kelton, Mariana Mazzucato, Carlota Perez and Kate Raworth are united in one thing: their amazement at the way economics has been defined and debated to date. Their incredulity is palpable….” Check out
four messages they share.
CGD (blog) – Well-Designed Tax Reforms Can Improve Income Distribution in Developing Countries
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/well-designed-tax-reforms-can-improve-income-distribution-developing-countries#.XuJFcM_Fd_4.twitter
By
S Gupta et al. “
In a recently published paper we examine the experience of 45 developing countries (23 emerging and 22 low-income countries) over the 2000-2015 period and find that tax reforms have raised the income share of the poorest population groups within countries.”
And a link (
New Humanitarian) -
Congo aid scam triggers sector-wide alarm
“
International NGOs funded through @UNICEF were being systematically fleeced in eastern DRC, some likely for years, according to this @pkleinfeld exclusive.”
Some tweets of the week
Simon Chapman
“Big Tobacco loses yet again as Honduras & Dominican Republic fail comprehensively in bid to @wto appellate body to overturn Australia's historic tobacco plain packs legislation.”
Jason Hickel
“Instead of using the term "high-emitters" we should use the term "climate colonizers". Because when you've gobbled up more than your fair share of the carbon budget, that's effectively what it amounts to.”
“
What is a post-growth, post-capitalist economy? An economy that is organized around human well-being and ecological stability, rather than around the perpetual accumulation of capital.”
M Pai
“Lock-downs & restrictions were about buying time for: -Scaling up Covid testing -Increasing hospital capacity -Supplying PPE to healthcare workers -Building capacity for contact tracing -Educating communities How many countries used the lockdowns to achieve this?”
I Kickbusch
“At our second (now virtual) meeting @GHFutures2030 Lancet FT Commission discusses how to link concepts of health as a common good with an approach to health data as a common good - what international cooperation is needed? Possible?”
John Nkengasong
“I am pleased to announce that @_AfricanUnion @AfricaCDC will be hosting a two-day Virtual #COVID19 Vaccine Conference on Tuesday 23 June and Wednesday 24 June.”
“This conference will address three issues: 1) what role Africa must play in #COVID19 vaccine dev. 2) discussing community engagement and leadership (cross-section of different groups scientists, religious leaders, etc.), and 3) establishing a strategy plan for the continent”
Adam Kucharski
“Report that 57% of residents in worst-hit parts of Bergamo have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, consistent with existing evidence suggesting seroprevalence largely reflects outbreak size & there haven’t been huge undetected epidemics in places with low burden.”