Indigenous peoples in many regions have a long history of devastation from epidemics brought by colonizers, from the arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas who brought smallpox and influenza to a measles outbreak among the Yanonami of Brazil and Southern Venezuela in the 1950s/60s that nearly decimated the tribe (Pringle, 2015).
COVID-19 presents a new threat to the health and survival of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples in nearly all countries fall into the most ?vulnerable? health category. They have significantly higher rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases than their non-indigenous counterparts, high mortality rates and lower life expectancies. Contributing…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #70: The Impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous Peoples
As the world grapples with an unparalleled health crisis, older persons have become one of its more visible victims. The pandemic spreads among persons of all ages and conditions, yet available evidence indicates that older persons and those with underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of serious illness and death from the COVID-19 disease.
Often, chronic health conditions are more prevalent in old age; increasing risks for older adults. The World Health Organization has reported that over 95 per cent of fatalities due to COVID-19 in Europe have been persons aged 60 years or older. Several sources suggest that as data from fatalities in nursing homes become available, the death…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #68: COVID-19 and Older Persons: A Defining Moment?for an Informed, Inclusive and Targeted Response
Persons with disabilities?both visible and invisible?face obstacles and discrimination in accessing health care and other essential services, social protection and income security, mental health services, and communication technologies. In addition, women and girls with disabilities are subject to intersecting forms of discrimination related to sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, legal protection, unpaid care and domestic work. Women and girls with disabilities who are migrants, refugees, or from ethnic minorities endure even more hardships and unequal treatment. Gender, disability and structural inequalities, which characterized societies before the crisis, are being…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #69: Leaving no one behind: the COVID-19 crisis through the disability and gender lens
Socioeconomic impacts
Prior to the onset of COVID-19, youth (aged 15 to 24) were already three times more likely to be unemployed compared to adults, while 126 million young workers were in extreme and moderate poverty worldwide (International Labour Organization, 2020). Young workers are also more likely to be in precarious employment than other age groups. Whereas some 77 per cent of youth are estimated to be informally employed globally, this percentage is even higher for young women in low and lower-middle-income countries (International Labour Organization, 2018).
The increase in unemployment as a result of COVID-19 is expected to exceed the rise in rates of unemployment in the…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #67: Protecting and mobilizing youth in COVID-19 responses
The pandemic crisis will worsen global inequality
The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the global eco??nomy, unleashing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Since the April 2020 Monthly Briefing on the World Economic Situation and Prospects, the global death toll of the pandemic has increased by more than 330 per cent, while the number of confirmed cases rose by over 210 per cent. COVID-19 is now the most severe health crisis since the Spanish Flu of 1918. The epicenter of the pandemic shifted from Europe to the United States during the past month, with the latter now accounting for nearly one third of confirmed cases and a quarter of the death toll globally. The…
World Economic Situation And Prospects: May 2020 Briefing, No. 137
Europe faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, with its share of total deaths rising from about 1% of the global total to 72% in just one month. The region?s share of global COVID-19 related deaths fell to 68% by 9 April (Figure 1), as death tolls sharply increased in the United States. In Italy and Spain?the two hardest hit countries in Europe?the daily death tolls are falling. In many other countries, the daily number of deaths has been declining or has plateaued.
Flattening the curve versus flattening the economy
With a rapidly rising number of confirmed cases, European governments faced a difficult choice between flattening the curve versus flattening the economy. Italy,…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #63: The COVID-19 pandemic: A speedy and balanced recovery of Europe will remain critical for the world to return to the trajectory of sustainable development
The COVID-19 pandemic puts Small island developing economies in dire straits
Small island developing countries?accounting for less than 1% of the world?s population?represent nearly 20% of the membership of the United Nations. The overarching principle of sovereign equality, as enshrined in Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, requires that the United Nations pay adequate attention to all countries, both large and small. This Policy Brief analyses and underscores why small island economies?as countries in special situations?deserve special attention as the world faces an unprecedented health and economic crisis. The policy brief identifies immediate macroeconomic impacts of the current…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #64: The COVID-19 pandemic puts Small Island Developing economies in dire straits
Even as all of humanity confronts COVID-19, it is becoming increasingly clear that pre-existing inequalities along various dimensions are differentiating its impact. At the same time, inequalities within and across countries also stand to widen because of the crisis. Such outcomes are not inevitable: past experience shows that sufficiently bold measures that put people at the centre of crisis response and recovery can lead to better, more equitable and resilient outcomes for all.
Living and working conditions determine the chances of infection
Interventions that reduce the chances of being infected, such as social distancing, are more difficult where population densities are high, as in…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #65: Responses to the COVID-19 catastrophe could turn the tide on inequality
Covid-19 threatens to undo progress achieved towards sustainable development by the least developed countries (LDCs)?over recent decades. Even before the current crisis, LDCs were unlikely to achieve the SDGs, which emphasizes as a core principle ?leaving no one behind?, including the most marginalized countries. Any further obstacles mean the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will almost certainly be missed without far-reaching policy responses. This Policy Brief reviews some of the main health, social and economic impacts of Covid-19 on LDCs and makes a series of policy recommendations.
Underdeveloped health systems
As of 28 April 2020, the World Health Organization reported 16,469…
UN/DESA Policy Brief #66: COVID-19 and the least developed countries
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