The virus that shut down the world: The yawning gulf between rich and poor - UN News

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Women bear the brunt

"Women are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis as they are more likely to lose their source of income and less likely to be covered by social protection measures". That was Achim Steiner, head of the UN’s development agency UNDP, noting the effect that the pandemic is having on women, pointing to data released in September.

It revealed that the poverty rate for women has increased by more than nine per cent, equivalent to some 47 million women: this represents a reversal of decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty over the last few decades.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, said that the increases in women’s extreme poverty are a "stark indictment of deep flaws" in the ways that society and the economy are structured.

Nevertheless, Mr. Steiner insisted that the tools exist to create a huge improvement to women’s lives, even during the current crisis. For example, more than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments improve access to education and family planning, and ensure that wages are fair and equal to those of men.

One in six children affected

WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana

The combined effects of the drought, COVID-19 and the insecurity upsurge have undermined the already fragile food security and nutrition situation of the population of southern Madagascar.

Progress in reducing child poverty also took a hit this year. The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and the World Bank reported in October that some 365 million children were living in poverty before the pandemic began, and predicted that those figures were set to rise considerably as a result of the crisis.

Extreme poverty deprives hundreds of millions of children of the opportunity to reach their real potential, in terms of physical and cognitive development, and threatens their ability to get good jobs in adulthood.

"These numbers alone should shock anyone", said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Director of Programmes: "Governments urgently need a children’s recovery plan to prevent countless more children and their families from reaching levels of poverty unseen for many, many years."

Aid for record numbers

IOM

A displaced family in Marib, Yemen, carries a winter aid package back to their shelter.

By December, the UN was predicting that a record 235 million people would require humanitarian assistance in 2021, an increase of some 40 per cent on 2020 which is almost entirely a consequence of the pandemic.

"The picture we are presenting is the bleakest and darkest perspective on humanitarian needs in the period ahead that we have ever set out", said the UN’s emergency relief chief, Mark Lowcock. "That is a reflection of the fact that the COVID pandemic has wreaked carnage across the whole of the most fragile and vulnerable countries on the planet."

Mr. Lowcock warned that the scale of the challenges facing humanitarians next year are massive – and growing. "If we get through 2021 without major famines that will be a significant achievement," he said. "The red lights are flashing, and the alarm bells are ringing."

Time for a new global deal

At the end of the year, the UN chief issued a reminder that the levels of poverty and inequality seen this year are far from inevitable, and that a more equitable world is still possible, regardless of acute shocks such as the pandemic.

Speaking in December, Mr. Guterres expressed his hope that the pandemic could spark the transformations needed to achieve stronger social protection systems worldwide.

Reflecting on his comments on inequality made a year earlier, before the pandemic was on the horizon, the UN chief said that the world needs a new Global Deal, "where power, resources and opportunities are better shared at international decision-making tables, and governance mechanisms better reflect the realities of today".

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