How will COVID-19 transform global health and development? By Michael Igoe and Vince Chadwick The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented disruption for the global health and development community. Organizations fighting infectious disease, supporting health workers, delivering social services, and protecting livelihoods have moved to the very centre of the world’s attention. But they find their work complicated by challenges of access, safety, supply chain logistics, and financial stress like never before. The short-term implications of this global challenge are evident everywhere, but the long-term consequences of the pandemic — how it will reshape health and development institutions, occupations, and priorities — are still difficult…
Author: NLM Correspondent
By Peter Wanyonyi For a while, a long while, the world seemed to at least be coming right. The Western world had abandoned its colonial, protectionist mindset. Europe was coming together, the 27-member European Union had knocked down its borders, travel was as free as it was during the Roman Empire. Even the British, with their insular island isolationism, realised the need to maintain some freedom of movement with the rest of the world post-Brexit. In America, Donald Trump forced a new NAFTA agreement on Mexico and Canada and, once they signed up, relaxed his ultra-nationalism and trade flowed again…
Conflict landscape By Vanda Felbab-Brown For the past three decades, militia groups have been a defining feature of Somalia’s conflict landscape. Communities create or join such groups to respond to conditions of insecurity and vulnerability. Somali powerbrokers, sub-federal authorities, the national government, and external interveners also turn to armed groups as a tool for pursuing their own interests. Some observers argue the militias offset the weakness of Somalia’s official security forces, produce greater motivation and better intelligence, and enhance bonds with local communities, perhaps even suppressing crime and intra-clan violence. But as I detail in a new United Nations University report —…
The G-20’s action is an important first step that must be complemented, scaled up, and broadened By Special Correspondent African countries, like others globally, are contending with an unprecedented shock, which merits substantial and unconditional financial assistance in the spirit of Draghi’s “whatever it takes.” The region is already facing an unprecedented synchronised and deep crisis. At all levels—health, economic, social—institutions are already overstretched. Africa was almost at a sudden stop economically even before the full brunt of COVID-19 reaches its shores. Economic performance for this year is projected to be the worst in 30 years. The health crisis is…
By ANTONY MUTUNGA With COVID-19 still causing havoc around the world, especially increasing in Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is set to face the worst recession it has in the last ten years. According to the World Bank through its Africa Pulse publication, the growth of Sub-Sahara Africa is projected to turn to the negative and range between -2.1 percent and -5.1 percent as compared to 2.4 in 2019. The report states that the COVID-19 outbreak will have more negative impacts for SSA in 2020 as it is set to cost the region between Sh3.96 trillion ($37 billion) and Sh8.45 trillion…
Chief Justice David Maraga has ruled out the resumption of open court sessions until after the coronavirus pandemic. The courts were to be re-opened after the Easter festivities but Maraga says that allowing open court sessions would provide grounds for the spread of the virus that has so far infected 281 people and killed 14. “Sitting court sessions attract people from all walks of life and involve the extensive exchange of papers from one advocate, judicial officer to another thus accelerating the risk of spreading the virus which has now spread to other counties,” Maraga told a news conference. He…
The number of people facing acute food insecurity could nearly double this year to 265 million due to the economic fallout of COVID-19, the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) said last month. The impact of lost tourism revenues, falling remittances and travel and other restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic are expected to leave some 130 million people acutely hungry this year, adding to around 135 million already in that category. “COVID-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread,” said Arif Husain, chief economist and director of research, assessment and monitoring at the World…
Some see in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for “turning danger into opportunity” a Machiavellian plot to gain advantage from others’ misfortune. By Susan Thornton It has been discouraging to see the war of words waged between China and the US in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that is ravaging the globe. Now is the time for Winston Churchill’s “blood, toil, tears, and sweat,” not finger-pointing and gratuitous swipes. Our societies are resilient. We will get through this, but the opportunity to join hands and overcome this shared tragedy is evaporating with every Twitter barrage. The level of suspicion and mistrust between China…
Usually, effective critical incident management would be informed by the known nature of such incidents and the known management and contingency plans. By Peter Mwangi On February 28, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued Executive Order No. 2 of 2019, establishing the National Emergency Response Committee (NERC) to deal with the threat of COVID-19. Earlier, in January, the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the viral disease a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. What started as a local public health incident in Wuhan, China, has swiftly transformed into a pandemic, with confirmed cases in over 160 out of 197 world countries.…
By Kevin Motaroki On August 28, 2018, at the Supreme Court building, Chief Justice David Maraga and DCI George Kinoti engaged in a daylong standoff over the arrest of Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu. The DCI had gone to arrest Mwilu – the highest ranking judicial officer to be charged in recent times – on corruption charges and abuse of office. The intrigues of the dramatic arrest that ensued are laid bare in the book ‘60 Days of Independence: Kenya’s Judiciary Through Three Presidential Election Petitions’ – jointly authored by a panel of lawyers, judges and journalists under the auspices of…