Health & Well Being

Image source: Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI).

COVID-19: Africa Needs to Break the Circle of Dependency

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) primarily aims at promoting the establishment of sustainable human vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa. Since its establishment, AVMI together with multiple and different partners, have been advocating for the establishment of vaccine development and manufacturing in Africa.

With the outbreak of coronavirus, AVMI has embarked on public education on the risk of the pandemic and further been persuading African leaders about the need to seriously prioritize the manufacturing of vaccines instead of depending on external supply.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 14 May 2021

Africa the Next Centre for Manufacturing COVID Drug?

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — For a while, Africa appeared to be losing the fight to build manufacturing capacity for the production of COVID-19 vaccines as big pharma and rich countries questioned African capacity to make its own vaccines.

Some international companies regard African self-sufficiency as a long-term risk to their business, some fear a loss of influence.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 11 May 2021

Photo: One of the biggest government-run COVID-19 hospitals in the Indian capital. Source: News Click

A Story of Nightmare for Patients in India's Government-Run COVID-19 Hospital

By Tarique Anwar

This report was first published in News Click on May 8, 2021.

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The healthcare staff at Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Delhi frantically clear the facility of bodies. One of the biggest government-run COVID-19 hospitals in the national capital, it is swamped by patients, triggering chaotic situations for doctors and paramedics who are scrambling to cope with the virulent infection amid a shortage of beds, oxygen, ventilators, doctors and other medical professionals.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 09 May 2021

COVID-19 Accelerates Digitilization of Economies and Societies

Viewpoint by Kaveh Zahedi *

A defining feature of the post-COVID world will be the digital transformation of the world, though it might also widen gaps in economic and social development within and between countries. The digital transformation has gone hand in hand with the rise of digital technologies, writes Kaveh Zahedi, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 May 2021

Photo: Health workers in front of the Jumbo Covid facility in Pune on May 5. (Express photograph by Arul Horizon)

Modi Govt. Abdicates Responsibility in the Face of Skyrocketing Death Toll

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha*

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic continues its brutal march across India. Figures of new infections reached 355,828 on May 3—which accounted for more than 62 percent of the world’s new infections on that day. As hospitals run out of beds, ICU capacity, and even oxygen, these factors have been contributing to the already skyrocketing death toll in the country. Dead bodies in mortuaries, crematoria and burial grounds speak of the awful toll of the pandemic.

: South Asia Bureau; THE WORLD; South Asia; 05 May 2021

Photo: Indian-Australians Stranded in India. Credit: The Canberra Times.

Australians Blast Government For "Racist" Indian Flight Ban

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — A controversial ban on flights from Covid-hit India landing in Australia, has blocked around 9,000 Australians from returning home. Most of them are Australians of Indian origin, while there are also a handful of Australian elite cricketers, coaches, and other officials currently taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket extravaganza.

This unprecedented move of banning its own citizens from returning home has angered many Australians, who have also branded this move by Prime Minister Scott Morrison government as "racist" because no such bans were imposed on flights from the UK and US during the peak of the pandemic there.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 04 May 2021

The US and EU Boost Access to Covid-19 Vaccines and Waive the Patents

Viewpoint by Lori Wallach

Lori Wallach is the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. This is a slightly abridged version of a blog post by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) New York.

WASHINGTON DC (IDN | IPS-Journal.EU) — As we see infection rates in India and other parts of the world skyrocketing, European Union (EU) and US government officials regularly declare that the Covid-19 public health disaster and resulting economic crises will not end anywhere unless people everywhere are vaccinated. Yet the two World Trade Organization (WTO) heavyweights are blocking an initiative now supported by 100 nations that could boost access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests worldwide. On 5 May the issue will again come to a head at the WTO. The US and EU must join the rest of the world.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 04 May 2021

The State of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka: Are the Government’s Policies Effective in Controlling it?

Viewpoint by Sunil J. Wimalawansa

The writer is Professor of Medicine: Director, Cardio-Metabolic Institute, New Jersey, U.S.A.

NEW JERSEY, USA (IDN) — The SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) affected the entire world; many died, millions got sick, and the misery continues. Second and third waves of SARS.Cov-2 infection are devastating most countries.

Non-strategic lockdowns and curfews (as in Sri Lanka) further aggravated the peoples’ misery, sufferings, daily lives, and economies, more than that from the virus. The toxic combination of COVID-19 and curfews devastated local productions and supply chains, livelihoods, people welfare, food security, and the county’s economy.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 28 April 2021

COVID-19 Exposes Fault Lines on Protecting Vulnerable Workers

By Mahinda Seneviratne*

SYDNEY (IDN) — As twilight approaches, Rakesh (not his real name) mounts his bicycle with a large thermal backpack over his narrow shoulders. He lost his regular job at a small suburban restaurant when the family business could not sustain itself during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. With the recent shocking road deaths of three food delivery riders heavily on his mind, Rakesh pedals cautiously into the growing traffic lanes to commence his first home delivery gig.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 27 April 2021

Top Economists Urge Solidarity to Avert Worsening of the COVID-19 Impacts

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Eminent thought leaders in economic and social fields have called for fundamental change in the multilateral system in the spirit of international solidarity to combat the severe impacts of COVID-19. They comprise the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, convened by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).