The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released data on Wednesday, 29 April highlighting huge disparities in countries’ ability to cope with and recover from the Covid-19 crisis, which is both a global health emergency and a systemic human development crisis.
The Country Readiness Scoreboard presents indicators for 189 countries - including level of development, inequality, health system capacity, and Internet connectivity - to assess the preparedness of countries to respond to the numerous effects of a crisis like Covid-19.
The most developed countries have an average of 55 hospital beds, more than 30 doctors, and 81 nurses per 10,000 people, compared with 7 hospital beds, 2.5 doctors, and 6 nurses in the least developed countries.
Furthermore, the widespread use of lockdowns has aggravated the digital divide. Of the world’s population, 6.5 billion people, or 85.5%, still do not have access to reliable broadband Internet, limiting their ability to work and pursue their education.
The second dashboard presents indicators that reflect the vulnerabilities of countries in this crisis, which threatens populations already living in poverty. More than 40% of the world’s population are not covered by any social protection. Links: https://bit.ly/3aNNprZ and https://bit.ly/2YgIxct (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)