Anywhere between 300000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19 depending on the intervention measures taken to stop the spread. Africa is particularly susceptible because 56 percent of the urban population is concentrated in overcrowded and poorly serviced slum dwellings (excluding North Africa) and only 34 percent of the households have access to basic hand washing facilities. Even if the spread of COVID-19 is suppressed in Africa its economic damage will be unavoidable. The impact on African economies could be the slowing of growth to 1.8 percent in the best case scenario or a contraction of 2.6 per cent in the worst case. This has the potential to push 29 million people into extreme poverty. To protect and build towards our shared prosperity at least a $100 billion fiscal stimulus is needed to immediately address the urgent healthcare needs provide safety net for the most vulnerable protect jobs and support economic activity where possible.

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has exposed inadequacies in health systems worldwide. As countries plan for recovery attention should be paid not only to the strengthening of health systems at the national level but also at the global level through investing in global public goods for health. International solidarity and multilateral support are needed to forge a stronger global health system. They are a vital part of the crisis recovery process to build a future resilient against epidemics pandemics and other health challenges in a globalized world.

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is unleashing a human development crisis. On some dimensions of human development conditions today are equivalent to levels of deprivation last seen in the mid-1980s. But the crisis is hitting hard on all of human development’s constitutive elements: income (with the largest contraction in economic activity since the Great Depression) health (directly causing a death toll over 300000 and indirectly leading potentially to an additional 6000 child deaths every day from preventable causes over the next 6 months) and education (with effective out-of-school rates – meaning accounting for the inability to access the internet – in primary education expected to drop to the levels of actual rates of the mid-1980s levels). This not counting less visible indirect effects including increased domestic violence yet to be fully documented. The pandemic was superimposed on unresolved tensions between people and technology between people and the planet between the haves and the have-nots. These tensions were already shaping a new generation of inequalities— pertaining to enhanced capabilities the new necessities of the 21st century as defined in the 2019 Human Development Report. But the response to the crisis can shape how those tensions are addressed and whether inequalities in human development are reduced. This note takes a capabilities approach to document the severity of the unfolding human development crisis. Such an approach implies an evaluative framework to assess the crisis and shape the policy response that emphasizes the potential for people to be and do what they aspire in life as opposed to material resources or economic activity. To assess the crisis the note draws from original simulations that are based on an adjusted Human Development Index— with the education dimension modified to reflect the effects of school closures and mitigation measures—and that incorporate current projections of gross national income (GNI) per capita for 2020.

Without aggressive policy action the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic could turn into a protracted debt crisis for many developing countries. The note puts forward concrete proposals to expand on the G20 bilateral debt moratorium and to facilitate investments in recovery and the SDGs including for highly-indebted middle-income countries that request a standstill and by bringing in other creditors. Time gained by the standstill must be used to develop sustainable solutions to the debt challenges of developing countries—to ‘build back better’. Such debt relief should be part of broader financing and recovery strategies that take SDG investment needs into consideration for example through country-led Integrated national financing frameworks. This is also the the time to also address long-standing gaps in the international financial architecture for sovereign debt.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic no clear evidence has emerged of a significant decrease in the supply of drugs at the global level including in Italy even after the quarantine was extended to the entire country.

This brief shines a light on the critical role of women’s leadership in responding to COVID-19 (coronavirus) and preparing for a more equitable recovery. Across the globe women are at the helm of institutions carrying out effective and inclusive COVID-19 responses from the highest levels of decision-making to frontline service delivery. At the same time the brief recognizes pre-existing and new constraints to women’s participation and leadership and advocates for measures to facilitate women’s influence over decision-making processes. It makes recommendations to be considered by national regional and international policymakers. In addition to considering the pandemic’s immediate impacts on women’s political participation the brief demonstrates the opportunity to “build back better” by including and supporting women and the organizations and networks that represent them in the decision-making processes that will ultimately shape the post-pandemic future.

The year 2020 marks two important landmarks in gender equality achievement: the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the 20th year of implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. Unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic caused cancellation and postponement of many important international meetings including a shortened version of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women but it is also risking to heavily jeopardize the progress made over recent years.

In the space of nine months COVID-19 (coronavirus) has spread to more than 190 countries with over 30 million cases reported. Over one million lives have been lost. The pandemic has laid bare long-ignored risks including inadequate health systems gaps in social protection and structural inequalities. It has also brought home the importance of basic public health and strong health systems and emergency preparedness as well as the resilience of a population in the face of a new virus or pandemic lending ever greater urgency to the quest for universal health coverage (UHC). Health is a fundamental human right and universal health coverage is a critical tool for achieving health for all. Universal health coverage is defined as a situation where all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without undue financial hardship. However at least half of the world’s population still do not have full coverage of essential health services and over 800 million people spend at least 10 per cent of their household budgets to pay for health. It will be important to remove as much as possible financial barriers to accessing health services. This is challenging during an economic recession but COVID-19 has shown that effective epidemic control benefits the economy. It has also exposed the down sides of financing health coverage primarily through wage-based contributions. In the context of a global economic crisis where unemployment increases and where entitlement to services is linked to such contributions access to health services is reduced at the time people need it the most.

The report reviews the existing practices of healthcare waste management under the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and to identify best available or appropriate waste management practices that are operationally and technically in line with local conditions. The report considers various approaches identifies best practices and technologies and provides recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners to improve waste management during the COVID-19. Drawing insight from numerous consultations the report gives particular attention to developing countries and cities which may already lack adequate waste management.

This policy brief focuses on the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the issues affecting women such as economic impacts health unpaid care work gender-based violence - exploring how women and girls’ lives are changing in the face of COVID-19 and outlining suggested priority measures to accompany both the immediate response and longer-term recovery efforts. The e-book for this policy brief has been converted into an accessible format for the visually impaired and people with print reading disabilities. It is fully compatible with leading screen-reader technologies such as JAWS and NVDA.