COVID-19 and the Global South — June 22nd Update
By Brady Press
Roughly three weeks ago, we published an article on COVID-19 and the Global South, which exposed risks facing South America and Africa as the virus has begun to spread to the region. As a follow up, for this article we examined some of what has occurred in the region since, to better understand how the situation has evolved and what factors are adding to concerns for and beyond public health (SDG 3), given the lack of resources Global South countries typically have in comparison to more developed countries that have started to reopen.
Compounding Issues in Latin America and the Caribbean
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in Central and South America is rising rapidly, with the biggest surges taking place in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Argentina and Bolivia. As of June 1, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico were among ten countries with the highest number of cases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Director, the region has not reached its peak in cases, either. UN agencies — WHO and ECOSOC — have expressed particular worry for Caribbean countries because of the high rates of poverty.
On top of the immediate health threat from the pandemic (SDG 3), SDG 1 and SDG 2 are also in peril in Latin America and the Caribbean, as cases of poverty and hunger are mounting. The regional representative for the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) declared that Latin America is facing a “historic setback in the fight against hunger, [and] in a matter a months, may lose what [it] has achieved in fifteen years.” UN agencies — Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the FAO — released a report, Preventing the COVID-19 crisis from becoming a food crisis: Urgent measures against hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, which outlines ten response measures to curb a hunger crisis. The report is currently available in Spanish, but we have linked to an English summary. Among the recommendations is a six-month Anti-Hunger Grant for people living in poverty (either in the form of cash transfers, food baskets or vouchers).
The health and economic ramifications of COVID-19 have put the region in a dire situation. Economic growth has been waning over the past seven years, and this year’s challenges threaten the largest decline in regional GDP in one hundred years, according to ECLAC and FAO. Poverty rates could grow to more than 83 million people this year across the region.
Africa’s Sahel Region Experiencing Turmoil
Africa is also faced with deep challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. Last week, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called for $186 million to support the Sahel region during the pandemic, where there is an estimated 3.1 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), many of who have fled violence and war. The Sahel region, which has experienced growing armed conflict in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso since 2011, is one of the “fastest growing displacement crises in the world” and has seen “hundreds of innocent civilians targeted in recent weeks,” causing more and more people to seek refuge. In an earlier article, we highlighted some concerns around refugee camps and living conditions for IDPs during COVID-19.
The funding sought by UNHCR will provide shelters, relief supplies, support for education like rebuilding schools and offering distance learning opportunities, and resources necessary to respond to an increase in sexual and gender-based violence that is “widespread in overcrowded camps,” according to UNHCR.
This appeal comes less than one month after 8 UN agencies and NGOs working in the Sahel region exclaimed that 24 million people are in need of urgent assistance and protection, citing a humanitarian crisis fed by “a myriad of factors, including deterioration in security…rising hunger, inequality…and gender-based violence.”
Supporting Response and Recovery of the Global South
As a whole, the Global South is experiencing its toughest time yet since COVID-19 became a pandemic, now feeling the economic, social and health ramifications with fewer resources to lessen the blow. Released in early June by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the report: South-South Cooperation at the Time of COVID-19, exposes the disparate challenges facing the South to tackle COVID-19, including already weaker and less diverse economies, and reliance on external markets and finance, that will contribute to a longer recovery.
In the report’s press release, Richard Kozul-Wright, Director of Globalization and Development Strategies at UNCTAD, acknowledges that many developing countries first felt the economic effects of COVID-19 shut downs before the health crises, since as much as 90% of the workforce in some of the region’s countries works in the informal economy. Likewise, the drop in global trade is likely to hit least developed countries (LDCs) the hardest, especially countries dependent on textile and clothing production and tourism, according to recent information published by the World Trade Organization. To illustrate the scope of the problem, in Tanzania, the number of tourists visiting the Serengeti has fallen to 24 people daily, down from 6,000 before COVID-19. According to the UNCTAD, developing countries will need an estimated $2.5 trillion (at least) over the next two years to recover, and international support has been “underwhelming.”
In addition to — not in place of — multilateral support, activation of partnerships between Southern countries (SDG 17) or “South-South cooperation and solidarity” across finance and trade is crucial moving forward. In addition to recommendations, the report “recognizes the potential for countries of the South…to build a strategic partnership that translates to common positions in international affairs that yield more inclusive global governance,” noting that “solidarity [could] carve out policy space in multilateral trade agreements.”
What’s Next?
It will be important to continue following the development of COVID-19 and its effects in the Global South. The UN and other humanitarian organizations are working actively in the region’s hardest hit countries to minimize the damage, but poor healthcare systems, struggling economies and persistent violence are all contributors to the plight of the region and are reasons to be concerned for its populations. More support from the global community, and cooperation between Southern countries, is necessary to move forward.
Brady Press is an Associate Director at Changing Our World, where she specializes in building strategic corporate citizenship programs. She is a consultant to SDGCounting and StartingUpGood, and is currently researching how COVID-19 is affecting the Sustainable Development Goals.
