Covid-19 threatens to hit developing countries disproportionately with a short-term health crisis and a devastating social and economic crisis in the coming months and years, the United Nations Development Programme warned on Monday, 30 March.
UNDP therefore calls on the international community for unprecedented financial support, both immediate, during the epidemic and in the long term, to prevent the economic collapse of developing countries.
A UNDP Covid-19 rapid response facility has already been launched with $20 million. It would need a minimum of $500 million to help 100 countries.
"Income losses are expected to exceed $220 billion in developing countries, and nearly half of all jobs in Africa could be lost. With an estimated 55 per cent of the global population having no access to social protection, these losses will reverberate across societies, impacting education, human rights and, in the most severe cases, basic food security and nutrition", according to UNDP.
The EU assesses needs by country. The EU has already announced €129 million for the most vulnerable countries via WHO, particularly in Africa (see EUROPE 12453/13). While aid to neighbouring countries is already costed (see other news), the same cannot be said for developing countries.
"We act together with our partner countries to identify the needs and provide the necessary assistance to respond, in this fast-evolving situation", International Partnerships Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen said on her blog last Saturday.
The 1.1 billion invested by the EU so far to strengthen health systems in Africa covers 2014-2020, before Covid-19.
The donor conference announced by Ursula von der Leyen at the G20 will focus on funding vaccine research, "but also the deployment of this vaccine, when available, in developing countries", according to the institution's chief spokesman, Eric Mamer. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)