Public Health

This policy brief reviews the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in Africa and presents the continent’s social protection responses. The crisis has hit the poorest and most vulnerable hardest and laid bare structural shortcomings such as inadequate health, educational and technological infrastructure, limited social protection, gender inequality, large informal economies, lack of access to basic services, constrained fiscal policy space and a high risk of debt distress in many countries, making them particularly vulnerable to the lasting effects of the pandemic. African countries have realized the need to scale-up social protection programmes and measures to meet the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 crisis as well as to ensure preparedness for other unexpected future events. Thus, they have introduced or adapted over 200 social protection and labour market policies in response to the pandemic. Recognizing the ongoing efforts as well as the persistent gaps and challenges, the brief stresses the need for allocating adequate resources for social protection systems and programmes, aiming for universal coverage to adequately address the different risks and vulnerabilities that individuals face throughout the lifecycle. It also urges development partners to provide financing support to the poorest countries to help them create fiscal space for increased public spending for social protection that is sustainable and equitable through multilateral development co-operation as well as national and regional multi-sectoral partnerships.

COVID-19 is accelerating the pace of digital transformation. In so doing, it is opening the opportunities for advancing social progress and fostering social inclusion, while simultaneously exacerbating the risk of increased inequalities and exclusion of those who are not digitally connected.

A lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing climate crisis is that development that is not risk-informed is neither inclusive nor sustainable. In light of this increasingly complex risk landscape, The 2021 Financing for Sustainable Development Report calls for a risk-informed approach to sustainable finance, and for investments in prevention, risk reduction and resilience. Because many such investments have a public good character, Governments must take the lead: incorporating risk analysis into their planning processes; overcoming ex post biases in their budgeting; aligning the private sector risk landscape with SDG risks, through carbon pricing and other incentives and regulations; and advancing risk-informed development cooperation in all its forms. Ultimately, all financing must be risk-informed and resilient, and sufficient financing must be available for investments in risk reduction and resilience, at national and global levels.

Between 2001 and 2019, emergency crises in the UNECE region affected an estimated 130 million people, injuring over 90 million, and making nearly 674,000 people homeless. Though generally disproportionately impacted by emergency crises, older men and women are often neglected in disaster risk reduction strategies and emergency responses. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of older persons carrying the burden of severe illness and mortality as well as of acute loneliness and isolation. As of September 2020, nearly 9 out of 10 COVID-19 related deaths reported in the UNECE region have been among adults aged 65 years and older. Disaster risk reduction and preparedness plans need to be “older persons friendly and inclusive” to prevent and mitigate the UNECE | Standing Working Group on Ageing | www.unece.org/population | [email protected] UNECE Policy Brief on Ageing No. 25 November 2020 potentially devastating implications of emergency crises among them. The challenge is not only to protect older persons and ensure essential services provide for their needs, as part of the emergency response and recovery after crises, it is also to account for the diversity of this population group, recognize their capacities and harness their experience to maximize the preparedness for and minimize the impact of emergencies.

Since the start of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, almost USD 16 trillion has been pumped into the global economy, and governments are now rolling out second and third phases of support. With the introduction of vaccines, some countries can begin to get the pandemic under control and start investing in recovery. Most countries, however, are still grappling with the pandemic’s immediate health and socio-economic fallout, including its outsized impact on women. While the adoption of policy measures to prevent or respond to the surge in violence against women is more widespread, the social protection and jobs response has not adequately supported women’s economic security nor addressed care work or the financing of care services. This policy brief presents entry points for the application of gender-responsive budgeting to COVID-19 support and recovery packages. Drawing on country examples, this brief provides recommendations on the use of gender budgeting tools to identify gaps in policy responses and direct spending towards gender responsive COVID-19 measures.

This brief provides midline findings from the impact evaluation of a cash plus model targeting youth in households receiving the United Republic of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN). Implemented by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), with technical assistance of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) and UNICEF Tanzania, the programme aims to improve livelihood opportunities and facilitate a safe transition to adulthood. The 'plus' component included training on livelihoods and sexual and reproductive health (SRH)-HIV, mentoring and productive grants, as well as linkages to youth-friendly health services. The impact evaluation is a longitudinal, mixed methods study. The midline analysis was conducted immediately after training (before mentoring, disbursement of productive grants and health facility strengthening).

This research brief is an addition to a series of five briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. These briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five goal areas of UNICEF’s 2018–2021 Strategic Plan, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space.

“Ujana Salama” (‘Safe Youth’ in Swahili) is a cash plus programme targeting adolescents in households receiving the United Republic of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN). Implemented by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), with technical assistance of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) and UNICEF Tanzania, the ‘plus’ component includes in-person training, mentoring, grants and health services. The impact evaluation studies the differential impact of the integrated programme (cash plus intervention targeting adolescents) with respect to the PSSN only. It is a mixed methods study, including baseline (2017), Round 2 (2018), Round 3 (2019) and Round 4 (2021) surveys. This brief summarizes findings from the Round 3 survey, which was conducted one year after the training, three months after the mentorship period, and one to two months after grant disbursement.

This research brief is one of a series of five briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. These briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five goal areas of UNICEF’s 2018–2021 Strategic Plan, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space.

This Policy Brief aims to inform policymakers of the potential impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on poverty. It will explore the implications of COVID-19 through various macroeconomic scenarios, ranging from the very optimistic to the pessimistic. The findings suggest that complete eradication of extreme poverty by 2030 looks highly unlikely even in the most optimistic scenario and that the global number of people living in extreme poverty could in fact continue to go up in the more pessimistic scenario. The final section will summarize the findings and discuss policy implications. Policies to reduce inequality and promote a country’s social and macroeconomic resilience, such as the strengthening of labour standards, and the expansion of the social protection systems and universal health coverage, are needed now more than ever. As developing countries currently face the prospect of costly debt crises with far-reaching consequences, global action is urgently needed. The window to mitigate the disastrous long-term consequences of COVID-19 on poverty is closing rapidly.