Leaving so many behind in the Covid-19 crisis

The Group of Seven (G7) – consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – recently announced steps to globally facilitate “affordable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics” to minimize the risk of Covid-19 mutations. The announcement carried the slogan “no one is safe until everybody is safe”. While the development of vaccines has been accelerated at an unprecedented speed, the production, distribution and roll-out of vaccinating the world’s population mirror the general South-North divide. Covid-19 amplifies existing inequalities, the urgency of intervention may turn development efforts for health care into emergency aid, and the risk of reversing poverty reduction is imminent.

In particular, the capacity to perform real-time genomic sequencing for early identification of new mutations of the virus and for tracing patterns of its transmission may not be present in many Global South countries.

Vaccine Nationalism Harms Everyone and Protects No One

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently stated that the world is on the brink of “catastrophic moral failure” in sharing COVID-19 vaccines. He was urging countries and manufacturers to spread doses more fairly around the world. The “me-first approach” will leave the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk. He noted that in early February 2021, 75% of all Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide had been given in just 10 countries. North America had administered at least one dose of vaccine to 7.68 people out of every 100 people, compared to 0.05 out of every 100 people in Africa. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus predicted “a scenario of hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response and continued social and economic disruption”. The fact that Global South countries has a weak healthcare system to deal with the consequences of the pandemic further adds to the problem.

The vulnerable groups

For poor people, lockdown means a dilemma between health and livelihood, which in most cases has no solution: There are no options for alternative income, and there is no option for self-isolation. Vulnerable groups are the hardest hit: women, minorities, elderly, mentally ill, disabled, drug abusers, indigenous people, refugees, migrant workers, slum dwellers, and people in extreme poverty.

Supported by CISU (Civil society in development) and the Danish Science Festival, DDRN will conduct two live webinars end of April 2021 for a South-North dialogue about livelihood of vulnerable groups during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their livelihoods are challenged at different levels in South and North, but the amplifying impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is common. There is a need for discourse about magnitude and scope of the Covid-19 impact, and public engagement about how vulnerable groups can be better supported during global crises. The objective of the dialogue is to achieve interaction between reports from South and North by stimulating discussions among the participants about specific parallels and non-parallels between livelihood situations in Global South countries and Denmark.

The two webinars are conducted in Danish:

 

Ulighed i Covid-19 krisen: Syd-Nord forskerdialog om deling af mad i Chile og Danmark

Live webinar mandag 26.april 16.00-17.30: Dialog om solidarisk deling af madvarer.

Oplev videnskabsjournalist Marta Apablaza Riquelme fortælle om “Ollas Comunes” i Chile., hvor naboer, venner og familie ramt af arbejdsløshed og sygdom genopliver et traditionelt fordelingssystem, som sikrer et dagligt måltid til tusinder af familier overalt i landet.

Oplev aktionsforsker og leder Irene Valentina Di Lauro berette om FællesSkabets køleskab på Nørrebro, hvor enkeltpersoner og butikker donerer madvarer til fordeling blandt hjemløse, arbejdsløse og udenlandske unge med lav indkomst.  

Lyt til Marta og Irenes dialog om problemer og løsninger i Chile og i Danmark – og stil spørgsmål!

Klik for tilmelding på Zoom


Ulighed i Covid-19 krisen: Syd-Nord forskerdialog om kvinders kår i Peru og Danmark

Live webinar tirsdag 27.april 16.00-17.30: Dialog om udsatte kvinder.

Oplev videnskabsjournaliset Lise Josefsen Hermann fortælle om nogle af de kvinder og unge piger, som er forsvundet i Peru, ofte som ofre for vold og tortur, og om deres familier, som fortvivlet leder efter dem. I 2020 forsvandt ikke mindre end 11.828 kvinder sporløst i Peru.

Oplev leder Malene Muusholm berette om ‘Reden’s indsats for handlede kvinder på Vesterbro og kvindernes særlige udfordringer under Covid-krisen, samt lektor Hilda Rømer Christensen, Kbh.s Universitet kortlægge Covid krisens betydning for kvinder i Danmark.

Lyt til Lise og Malenes dialog om problemer og løsninger i Peru og i Danmark – og stil spørgsmål!

Klik for tilmelding på Zoom


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Photo: Valeria Bustos
Photo: Florence Goupil