by Creativeneko
This week, President Malpass reiterated the World Bank’s support to over 100 countries in their emergency health responses. Africa’s leaders are providing a concerted, strategic response to COVID-19 in the region, Afghanistan’s health system is receiving much-needed aid from the World Bank and partners, Uganda is tracking the socio-economic and health impacts of the pandemic, and Nepal’s digital community is using data to help circulate health information to the public.
President Malpass: An update on our work at the World Bank Group | Blog
At the G7 meeting, President Malpass highlighted the World Bank Group’s work on vaccines and health care response. Equitable access to any COVID-19 vaccine will be critical, especially for the poorest countries. The World Bank’s globally coordinated response is supporting over 100 countries in dealing with their immediate health emergency needs, assisting governments in acquiring vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and dealing with urgent secondary health impacts of the pandemic.
As African nations ease their lockdown restrictions, health systems are bracing to prevent further spread of COVID-19. The consequences of the pandemic will be long lasting, and resources are limited. So regional approaches and resource sharing are more important now than ever. Africa’s leaders have risen to the challenge, with a continental strategy that has demonstrated massive economies of scale in disease prevention and control efforts.
In Afghanistan, international aid helps save lives from COVID-19 | Blog
One of the greatest obstacles that Afghanistan faces as it fights COVID-19 is the overwhelming demand placed on its fragile public health system. With support from the World Bank and other international organizations, the Afghan government has supported infected persons, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel, service providers, as well as medical and testing facilities, and national health agencies.
Uganda High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19: Results from round 1 | Blog
In collaboration with the World Bank, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics disseminated the first round of results from tracking the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. Despite high knowledge of preventive measures, large shares of respondents reported false beliefs about COVID-19. The most striking findings are that 38% believe that local herbs can help treating COVID-19 patients; 26% think that consumption of alcohol provides immunity to the disease; 22% are of the opinion that Africans are immune to COVID-19; and 16% do not think that children can be affected by COVID-19.
Youth in Nepal use data to respond to COVID-19 | Blog
When the pandemic hit, members of the Nepal Data Literacy Community saw an opportunity to use data to help inform people. They manually scraped data from sources like the Ministry of Health and WHO and visualized the information in a user-friendly manner. Their short, informative videos on contact tracing, types of COVID-19 tests, and myths surrounding the pandemic were shared widely through social media channels.
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