COVID-19 lockdowns are imposing substantial economic costs on countries in Africa

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Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are suffering rapid and substantial economic costs from the spread of COVID-19 and related lockdown measures. James Thurlow describes initial assessments of economy-wide impacts in some African countries and their varied effects on different sectors and types of households. He also highlights challenges for governments in moving from crisis responses to policies for medium- and longer-term economic recovery. These assessments are done by teams of IFPRI researchers and country partners…

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Gender Matters: COVID-19’s Outsized Impact on Displaced Women and Girls

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This article argues that within already vulnerable displaced communities, women and girls are at even greater risk. Cultural norms, underrepresentation, and a host of other challenges further marginalize them socially, politically, and economically. As a result, forced displacement uniquely and disproportionately affects women and girls, as does this pandemic. The article provides analysis and recommendations for Governments where IDPs, asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless people reside, and for INGOs, national NGOs and donors working with…

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Interview: How Covid-19 could undo years of progress in the developing world

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Professor Charlotte Watts is the chief scientific adviser for the Department of International Development (Dfid) and a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). In this interview, she talks about how developing countries could be affected by the pandemic – and why the UK’s response needs to address both domestic and international concerns.   Read more

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Interim guidance on Public Health and Social Measures for COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Operations in Low Capacity and Humanitarian Settings

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This Interim Guidance outlines how key public health and social measures needed to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread and the impact of the disease can be adapted for use in low capacity and humanitarian settings. The recommendations outlined here need to be adjusted to the scale of transmission, context and resources, in order to achieve the objective of managing COVID-19, namely to reduce transmission and facilitate the detection and management of infected and exposed…

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Coronavirus and the Electoral Dilemma

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In this blog post, Nic Cheeseman, author of several books on democracy in Africa, explains why postponing elections for COVID-19 may do more harm than good.   Read more

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How Efforts to Address Conflict and Coronavirus Align

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As the unprecedented humanitarian and economic impacts of COVID-19 begin to be felt across poor and conflict-affected states, there is a risk that policymakers will lose focus on longer-term priorities—like conflict prevention and economic development. The scale of emergency aid that will be needed is becoming more clear, and the initial projections are staggering: the coronavirus is likely to cause the first increase in global poverty since 1998, with the share of the world’s population…

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Will Lessons from Cholera in Haiti Be Applied to COVID-19?

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In recent weeks, the United Nations Department of Peace Operations announced a series of protocol changes to reduce the risk that peacekeepers will introduce COVID-19 into vulnerable countries. As the introduction of cholera to Haiti in 2010 by UN peacekeepers demonstrates, such preventative measures are critical. Yet there is cause for concern that the lessons from cholera in Haiti have not translated into adequate action to protect peacekeeping host communities from the preventable transmission of…

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Coronavirus is a crisis for the developing world, but here’s why it needn’t be a catastrophe

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In this article, the authors argue for a universal ultra basic income (UUBI) as a strategy for development countries to cope with the economic impact of COVID-19.   Read more

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Nigeria’s response to Covid-19

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Nigeria was successful in eliminating Ebola, despite a weak public health system. In this blog post, expert on governance in Nigeria, Clare Cummings, uncovers why this was and whether Covid-19 could be addressed in the same way.   Read more

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Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using Data to Find a Balance

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In this report, the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC), a consortium of global public health organizations and private sector firms, brings together findings from a survey conducted March 29-April 17, 2020 in 28 cities across 20 AU Member States, along with epidemiological measures of disease transmission and indicators of population movements and unrest, among others. Synthesized, these data provide a first-of-its-kind snapshot of baseline conditions in Africa during this rapidly evolving pandemic.  …

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