COVID-19

 The report, Human Mobility, Shared Opportunities: A Review of the 2009 Human Development Report and the Way Ahead, looks back at the last decade and assesses how future policy responses could facilitate safe, orderly, and regular migration.

Despite the gains and major investments in e-government by many countries, the digital divide persists. Seven out of eight countries with low scores are in Africa and belong to the least developed countries group.

There are not only more children experiencing poverty than before, the poorest children are getting poorer as well. Before the pandemic, the average number of severe deprivations per child was around 0.7. It is now estimated to have increased by 15 percent to around 0.85.

Tourism is the backbone of many economies and a lifeline for millions of people around the world, but COVID-19 has brought it to a halt, causing severe economic consequences globally.

The Rwanda National Police has intervened with drones to raise COVID-19 awareness in densely-populated and hard-to-reach areas of the country.

Notwithstanding all measures put in place, and considering the alarming rate of infection of the coronavirus, the inevitable eventually happened. On 12 March 2020, Ghana Health Service under the Ministry of Health confirmed the first two COVID-19 cases in the country. The cases have since been rising daily with the COVID-19 story yet to end. To this point, Ghana has recorded 46,222 cases of COVID-19 cases with 45,417 recoveries and 299 deaths.

The risks to refugee education do not stop with COVID-19. Attacks on schools are a grim and growing reality. The report also elaborates on Africa’s Sahel region where violence has forced the closure of more than 2,500 schools affecting the education of 350,000 students.

Several Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) were constructed across the country and these have in turn been used in the COVID-19 response. Although these centers have not been used to accommodate confirmed COVID-19 patients, they have however been used as quarantine centers for people under observations.

Dozens of children have been killed, maimed, and recruited by armed groups in a recent surge of violence and civil unrest in Colombia, Save the Children has warned. The violence is ripping families and communities apart, leaving a lasting impact on children and youth.

COVID-19 offers mankind a blank page for a new beginning. The question, however, is are we prepared for a fresh start?