This informationwas shared by the Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar in the Lok Sabha on Monday…reports Asian Lite News
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said in Lok Sabha that the education system in the country got severely affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, the ministry of education is trying to bring many new changes on the bases of New Education Policy (NEP).
The NEP-2020 also envisions setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with four independent verticals to perform distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting. Accordingly, the Ministry is in the process of drafting a Higher Education Commission of India Bill.
The NEP-2020, inter-alia, envisions setting up of Model public Universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education, at par with IITs, IIMs, etc., called MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) which will aim to attain the highest global standards in quality education.
This information was shared by the Minister of State for Education, Subhas Sarkar in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The NEP further states that all programmes, courses, curricula, and pedagogy across subjects, including those in-class, online, and in ODL modes as well as student support will aim to achieve global standards of quality, the minister added.
The Ministry of Education has announced NEP 2020 on July 29, 2020 after obtaining approval of the Union Cabinet.
Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said it has notified the UGC (Open and Distance Learning Programmes and Online Programmes) Regulations, 2020 on September 4, 2020, and further an amendment on July 1, 2021.
Education
These regulations lay down the minimum standards of instruction for the grant of degrees through Open and Distance Learning mode and online mode.
The UGC has further informed that in view of the recommendation of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3 per cent (2018) to 50 per cent by 2035 and to further promote Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and online education, the UGC has constituted an Expert Committee to review existing ODL and Online regulatory framework while ensuring quality, driven by simplified recognition system and processes.
The increase in African countries’ COVID-19-related expenditure could impact the annual gap in infrastructure investment in the short to medium term. And the pandemic has also had a negative impact on cross-border trade
The African Development Agency “Oda NEPAD” continued its sessions for the seventh edition of the African Program for Infrastructure Development at “PIDA” week at Kenyan capital, Nairobi, under the slogan “Africa on the road to recovery, growth and resilience through infrastructure.
African policymakers and experts are discussing the role of the infrastructure sector in injecting post-COVID-19 recovery, growth and resilience into Africa.
The 7th PIDA Week is focussing on how Africa can lead the way in the delivery of infrastructure in a post-COVID era as well as supporting the economic and social imperatives of the continent in the digital age.
The African Union stated in a statement that sessions focused on issues of digitization and the continental technological infrastructure to accelerate the recovery and the hoped for growth in Africa.
On her part, Dr. Amani Abou Zeid, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, called for promoting innovation and stimulating digitalization across all sectors for inclusive growth and development on the continent.
Ibrahim-Assane-Mayaki_-CEO_-NEPAD
In the same context, participants addressed the challenges facing “digitization”, stating that nearly 300 million Africans live more than 50 kilometers from the fiber-optic link, which represents a significant obstacle to driving productivity, innovation and growth.
They noted that the digital skills gap is still large and prevents the uptake of new technologies and innovative business models, noting that regulations and policies are adapting very slowly to the digital economy
“The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating multifaceted economic and social consequences that have disproportionately affected Africa on human development indicators, economic interdependence, growth and resilience patterns,” the AU said.
In a bid to contain the spread and the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic, African governments have prioritized their spending commitment mainly focusing on vaccinating their population and building resilience, eventually increasing their recurrent expenditure.
According to the AU, the increase in African countries’ COVID-19-related expenditure could impact the annual gap in infrastructure investment in the short to medium term. And the pandemic has also had a negative impact on cross-border trade.
African countries were forced to shut down borders and, in some cases, apply trade restrictions that have affected supply chains inbound and outbound within the regions and as a result recording trade deficit in volumes, exposing Africa’s overdependence on external supply chains.
“It is expected that once the pandemic is successfully contained, the focus will need to shift from crisis management to assisting to adequately invest in infrastructure for development, as well as preventing and mitigating the impact of future outbreaks,” the AU said.
The PIDA Week, among other things, envisages bringing together international and regional experts from multiple stakeholders to deliberate on the issues around infrastructure delivery in Africa. The continental week will focus on how Africa can lead the way in the delivery of infrastructure in a post-COVID era, supporting the economic and social imperatives of the continent in the digital age.
The PIDA Week agenda includes post-COVID 19 infrastructure financing, delivery, and resilience; the critical role of infrastructure in the implementation of the agreement for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and in the post-COVID-19 recovery; and the transformation in demand for and consumption of transport, energy, ICT and social infrastructure.
Israel’s Tourism Ministry has launched a 25 million shekel ($7 million) plan to support the country’s tour guides amid the Covid-19 pandemic…reports Asian Lite News
The plan is part of a government decision to assist the Israeli tourism industry, which has sustained significant losses inflicted by the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.
According to the plan, tens of thousands of free guided tours will be provided to the public, helping jobless guides go back to work.
The free tours will be offered daily through the websites of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority and in various cities.
To date, more than 1,800 tour guides have joined in the project, the Ministry said.
In addition to the Hebrew-guided tours which are already available, tours will soon be offered in English, Russian, French and Arabic languages, it added.
“After two challenging years for the tourism industry, we have here a great opportunity to help tour guides and, finally, to get out from Zoom,” said Minister of Tourism Yoel Razvozov.
“The tours are not only an experience but also a good deed towards the tour guides so that they have employment,” added Ganit Peleg, chair of the Israel Tour Guides Association.
The UK economy increased by 1% in the fourth quarter despite the emergence of the omicron Covid-19 variant, matching its expansion in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics revealed in a statement, reports Asian Lite News
United Kingdom’s economy rebounded by a record 7.5% last year on easing COVID-19 curbs, staging a partial recovery from a pandemic-driven historic collapse, official data showed.
Gross domestic product (GDP) had tumbled by 9.4% in 2020 due to the initial impact of the pandemic and public health restrictions, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) added in a statement.
The UK economy increased by 1% in the fourth quarter despite the emergence of the omicron COVID-19 variant, matching its expansion in the third quarter, the ONS also revealed in a statement.
GDP, however, dipped 0.2% in December on fallout from the rapid spread of omicron.
“GDP fell back slightly in December as the Omicron wave hit, with retail and hospitality seeing the biggest impacts,” ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said.
“However, these were partially offset by increases in the Test and Trace service and vaccination programs.”
Activity held at its pre-pandemic level in February due to increased health sector activity.
“Despite December’s setback, GDP grew robustly across the fourth quarter as a whole with the NHS (National Health Service), couriers and employment agencies all helping to support the economy,” Morgan added.
“Overall, GDP in December was in line with its level in February 2020, before C-19 struck, while in the fourth quarter as a whole, it was slightly below that of quarter four in 2019.”
British finance minister Rishi Sunak welcomed news of the country’s partial recovery from the emergency health crisis.
“The economy has been remarkably resilient,” he said in a statement, noting it was boosted by the government’s vast stimulus measures.
However, assessing the extent to which the UK economy has recovered from the hit of the pandemic is complicated by differences in which the ONS calculates monthly and quarterly data. On the monthly figure, GDP in December was in line with its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
The ONS also published its trade data and showed that imports from non-EU countries had surpassed those from EU economies in 2021 for the first time since records began in 1997.
Cornelius Clarke, economist at the financial services Ebury, said that “evidently the end of the Brexit transition period has impacted trading relationships that many UK businesses have with their EU counterparts.”
Annual imports and exports in 2021 increased by 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively compared with 2020, but both remained lower than 2018 levels.
Samuel Tombs, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said that while the coronavirus “can’t be blamed” for the UK’s continued underperformance, “exports continue to stand out as an area of significant weakness.”
Growth in December was dragged down by services, where output fell 0.5 per cent compared with the previous month as consumers spent less in cinemas, bars, and restaurants because of the spread of Omicron.
Retail sales and output in the hospitality sector fell 3.7 per and 9.2 per cent respectively. Output in arts and recreation fell 4.4 per cent.
The fall in those sectors was offset by a 2.4 per cent expansion in the health sector, which the ONS said was largely driven by the NHS test and trace and vaccination programme.
Manufacturing output rose 0.2 per cent, boosted by growth in the pharmaceutical and car sectors. Construction also increased by a solid 2 per cent supported by strong expansion in infrastructure and new housing.
In its latest assessment of the economy, the Bank of England said that it expected the impact of Omicron to “be limited and of short duration,” with GDP recovering in February and March. However, it also warned that growth in 2022 will be dragged down by the largest contraction in household real income in 30 years because of rising inflation, higher taxes, and surging energy costs.
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics…reports Vikas Datta
An insidious, and unseeable, force is out there, able to strike anyone to cause sickness, and in some cases, death. The only way to stay safe is to keep away from almost everyone else — but that is easier said than done in our urban, inter-connected, and interdependent lives.
There is widespread panic as rumours abound and the crisis brings out the best and worst in people. A description of our Covid-hit world? No, pandemics have hit us earlier too — and are reflected in our literature.
Pandemics/plagues have been regular occurrences across human existence — at the rate of two or three per century, but their dispersal in time and space, their varying impacts, and limitations of memory lead them to be forgotten by future generations. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 may be beyond the frame of current human experience, but how many can recall the Asian influenza of 1957 or the swine flu of 2009?
Works of literature, spanning from the author of the first modern best-seller to a Nobel Literature laureate and more, offer an insightful record of previous manifestations of life-changing epidemics.
Let us see some half-a-dozen odd of these, avoiding speculative thrillers about man-made virulent organisms being set loose or the genre where everyone becomes a mutant/zombie, before answering the obvious question: Why should we want to read about something we are now experiencing first-hand with all its attendant sufferings and disruptions?
Among the oldest is 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’ (c. 1350-53), written as the lethal ‘Black Death”, which devastated Eurasia, was at its peak.
The narrative framework of this collection of 100-odd stories is that ten wealthy young nobles of Florence — seven women and three men — leave the city for a secluded villa in the countryside for two weeks, where they spend all their time telling each other these tales.
While the stories are usually of love — romantic, tragic, and erotic, they also deal with the power of fortune, will, lust, ambition, and of clever repartees, and the characters include generous nobles, lecherous clergy, and travelling merchants.
However, one effort to steal away from the disease that doesn’t go too well can be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s story ‘The Masque of Red Death’ (1845).
First published as “‘The Mask of Red Death’ (1842), it tells how Prince Prospero, ruling over a plague-stricken realm, tries to avoid it by hiding in an abbey, with many other wealthy nobles, Not only that, they also hold a masquerade ball, but amid the revelry, there comes an unbidden guest, and eventually, “… Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all”.
But, the first account of living amid widespread disease is ‘A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, Of the most Remarkable Occurrences, As well Publick as Private, which happened in London During the last Great Visitation In 1665’ (that was how book titles ran in those days), by Daniel Defoe, known better for ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
Presented as an eyewitness account of an anonymous resident, who chooses to stay back in the city, the book published in 1722 gives a vivid description of the sufferings of the residents of London (“A casement violently opened just above my head, and a Woman gave three frightful screeches, then cried ‘Oh! Death, death, death!'”), as the fatalities rise from week to week.
It also analyses how certain groups or individuals fared, the effects on the Church and the government, enlivened with plenty of black humour, verging on the satiric.
Organised chronologically, though without chapters and containing plenty of digressions, it is still systematic and well-researched, leading to literary scholars arguing down the ages whether to treat it as an authentic history or fiction.
Mary Shelley, better known for ‘Frankenstein’, also ushered in the dystopian apocalyptic genre of science fiction with ‘The Last Man’ (1826).
Set in the 21st century, it tells how a plague infects and decimates mankind, and how survivors try to will on to live, while fighting other hostile human settlements.
But with its characters based on her late husband, the poet Shelley, whose biography she was forbidden to write by his family, and friends such as Lord Byron, it also bemoans the failure of their political ideals, as well as the tragedy of human isolation.
While the first modern work on the issue is Jack ‘Call of the Wild’ London’s ‘The Scarlet Plague’ (1912), set in 2073 — some six decades after the eponymous plague has denuded the planet of most of its people and reduced the survivors to a rough existence, which shows how the clock of human progress can be turned back — the definitive work is Albert Camus’ ‘La Peste/The Plague’ (1947).
Set in the then French Algerian town of Oran, it depicts an outbreak of plague, the resulting quarantine, and the response of the varied characters — a doctor, a visiting journalist, a priest, a mysterious visitor, a civic official, and many others — while giving insights into the nature of suffering and powerlessness of individuals to change their destiny in an absurd existence.
At a deeper level, it can be seen as an allegory of the real-life political plague (Nazism) that affected Europe till two years before the publication of the book, but also on Camus’ views about the human condition.
There are many more, across genres. ‘The Andromeda Strain’ (1969), the first book by Michael Crichton under his own name, shows a group of American scientists dealing with a lethal extra-terrestrial micro-organism. Connie Willis in ‘The Doomsday Book’ (1992) brings together time travel and plague and epidemics in the past and the present. And Catherine Ryan Howard’s ’56 Days’ (2021) shows how rather impetuous romantic choices, in the shadow of a pandemic, can have lethal consequences.
But now, to answer why we should read books of this ilk. For one, fiction, for those not totally fixated on TV or web-streaming, offers a way of understanding the scope of the crisis, with stories helping to comprehend something that may seem too huge and frightening to process. Two, it shows that our ancestors also faced such crises, and how they tackled them. And finally,
they provide reassurance that life continues, and it’s up to us to do what we make of it with our choices.
Initially, money was hard to come by. Sharma said that a woman earned about Rs 25 per day by making and selling papads to shopkeepers. That made for a monthly income of Rs 750…reports Bivek Mathur
In Bhaga village in Jammu and Kashmirs Reasi district, 17-year-old Shilpa Singh has taken it upon herself to earn for her family after the coronavirus pandemic washed out her father Mangal Singhs job.
“When the pandemic hit the country, several labourer families like ours were left in the lurch as our fathers, who until then were the lone breadwinners of our families, lost their jobs,” she said.
To avoid a financial crisis at home, she decided to become a member of the local self-help group (SHG). “And I’m happy that the income from the products sold by the self-help groups sustained my family in the pandemic,” Singh said.
These SHGs that have given hope to several women today, did not have many takers before 2019. Women from Bhaga village did not work outside their homes and instead depended on their husbands for almost all their requirements.
The scenario changed in January 2019 when Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officer, Indu Kanwal Chib, who was posted as the then deputy commissioner Reasi, intervened. She gently coaxed the women to join Jammu and Kashmir State Rural Livelihood Mission (JKSRLM) — a programme aimed at alleviating poverty in the Union Territory — to earn a guaranteed monthly income and afford a better life.
When the Bhaga women joined the self-help groups under JKSRLM in 2019, they had no inkling of the mission. “Following a brief about the initiative and a recollection of success stories by then deputy commissioner, we dared to start by making lentil papads. And this continued for several months,” Jyoti Sharma, a self-help group member said.
Initially, money was hard to come by. Sharma said that a woman earned about Rs 25 per day by making and selling papads to shopkeepers. That made for a monthly income of Rs 750.
The coronavirus pandemic, however, changed their fortunes.
‘Pandemic brought in more work opportunities’
Two months after the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, the women from Bhaga self-help group were approached by Chib with an offer — making face masks for the district administration.
“Since most of our village women were already adept in tailoring, we accepted the offer,” Sharma said, adding, “To meet our targets, hundreds of women self-help groups worked day in and day out to prepare and provide one lakh masks to the district administration.”
The women in Bhaga sold a mask for Rs 20 and ended up earning Rs 2 crores within 2-3 months. “With this, the average monthly income of an SHG member rose to Rs 4,500-5,000 during those months,” claimed Sharma.
Current Deputy Commissioner of Reasi, Charandeep Singh, said that the average income of some individuals from the SHG amounts to Rs 7,000-8,000 per month.
Singh said that the traditional craft materials made by Reasi women SHGs have been listed as “success stories” under the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. “And this is a major achievement for our women self-help groups,” the officer said.
A better life
According to the director of the JKSRLM, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar, there are 48,423 women self-help groups that provide livelihood opportunities for 4,16,037 women in the Union Territory currently. In Reasi town alone, 15,402 women are associated with 1,854 self-help groups.
Arif Mohammad, the professional resource person of JKSRLM in Bhaga, said there are 125 women self-help groups only in his cluster — the Prerna Mahila Cluster Level Federation. Around 1,200 women work in these groups.
The SHGs in Bhaga village also make various products like jute bags, traditional ornaments, paper plates, disposable leaf plates and bowls, teddy bears, spices, pickles, embroidery items, masks, cheese, kaladi (traditional cheese) and sandals among others.
The JKSRLM in collaboration with other government departments conduct exhibitions throughout the Union Territory and sell the products made by these SHGs.
As far as other marketing avenues are concerned, the deputy commissioner of Reasi, Charandeep Singh, said that his administration has opened sales outlets for some units while commercial websites are also being designed to help the women sell their products online.
For instance, to benefit pickle manufacturing SHGs from Reasi, an outlet has been opened in Pouni area of the district. Around 500 hoteliers in Katra and other areas near the Katra-Shiv Khori shrine have been requested to purchase pickles exclusively from these outlets by women SHGs.
For other traditional items like Chabhari, Bina (made using wild grass), he said, “At our request, the Katra hoteliers have agreed to present these traditional crafts as souvenirs to the visiting tourists and guests.” The hoteliers, according to him, have been carrying a retail display of these products made by the women SHGs.
“Meetings with e-commerce giants like Amazon are also underway to help the women SHGs market their products online,” Singh added. “My administration is also planning to sell the products made by women self-help groups through some websites that would be named after them.”
He said that the transport system is not only fundamental to London’s success, but to driving economic prosperity right across the length and breadth of the country…reports Asian Lite News
London’s famous red buses are in danger of being forced off the streets in a funding row between City Hall and the British government, Mayor Sadiq Khan warned on Monday.
Khan said that the continued electrification of London’s bus fleet is also under threat, with the date for a zero-emission fleet likely to slip till at least 2037, Xinhua news agency reported.
Khan outlined on Monday how tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs that support the Transport for London (TfL) supply chain across the country would be at risk if projects are delayed due to lack of funding.
London has a toxic air crisis. If we're not careful, we’ll be moving from one public health crisis to another—only this time it will be caused by toxic emissions and gridlocked roads. Well-planned Low Traffic Neighbourhoods play a crucial role in cleaning up our air. Here’s how: pic.twitter.com/289TwyPqTL
He warned that if government ministers do not fund TfL properly, the repercussions will be felt across the country.
TfL has already paused awarding new bus contracts since early November last year, while 1,000 new red buses owned by TfL are also currently due their mid-life refurbishment.
“If the government fails to provide the funding required, TfL may be unable to refurbish these buses and, along with potential bus service cuts under a managed decline scenario, may need to be removed from the roads,” Khan warned.
He said that the transport system is not only fundamental to London’s success, but to driving economic prosperity right across the length and breadth of the country.
“It is no exaggeration to say that tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs will be at risk if ministers fail to properly fund TfL. In addition, our strides towards bus electrification will be halted, and the capital will suffer with fewer buses on the roads and an unreliable Tube service with aging trains,” he said.
City Hall said the government only provided a short-term pandemic funding deal that lasts until February 4.
When the pandemic hit, with Londoners staying home to stop the spread of coronavirus, passenger numbers on London’s public transport system plummeted by 95 per cent, leading to a devastating impact on TfL’s finances.
TfL said 72 per cent of its operating income comes from fares, whereas it is only 38 per cent in New York or Paris.
“Without a clear commitment to provide sufficient long-term funding, or continued short-term deals, TfL is currently having to plan on the basis of a managed decline of the capital’s public transport network,” a City Hall spokesperson said.
Italy has seen a spike in new coronavirus cases through December 2021, mostly due to the effects of the Omicron variant…reports Asian Lite News
Amid a recent surge in new Covid-19 cases, half of Italy is currently under moderate pandemic risk, as the regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio and Sicily turned “yellow” after the number of people who tested positive for the virus in hospital and intensive care units increased above national parameters.
These four regions added to Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Marche and Calabria, plus the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, pushing the total number of yellow zones across the country to 11, reports Xinhua news agency.
In the four-tiered system implemented in Italy since late 2020, the yellow zone indicates a low-intermediate, or moderate risk of virus transmission; the orange and red zones indicate the medium and high risks respectively, while the white zone stands for a low risk.
Considering the success of the vaccination rollout in the country, however, the yellow zone currently entails a low level of restrictions that include wearing facemasks outdoors and using FFP2 face masks only on public transport, cinema and theatres.
Adding to this, only people holding the “super” green pass — the certificate showing proof of Covid-19 vaccination or recovery from the infection within 6 months — are allowed to be served indoors in bars and restaurants in the yellow zone.
Italy’s remaining 10 regions are still in the white zone category and under the most relaxed anti-pandemic rules, which still require people to wear facemasks in any indoor place, and ban unvaccinated people from sitting in restaurants and bars, cinemas, sport venues, nightclubs and stadiums.
As in several other European countries, Italy has seen a spike in new coronavirus cases through December 2021, mostly due to the effects of the Omicron variant.
As of Tuesday morning, the country’s caseload and death toll stood at 6,396,110 and 137,786, respectively.
On December 30, Italy recorded 126,888 new cases against the previous day, surpassing the threshold of 100,000 daily cases for the first time in the country.
Over 144,000 daily cases were then registered on December 31, and over 141,000 on January 1, according to data by the Health Ministry.
However, the surge has come amid a high participation in the vaccination plan, which has so far helped keep the number of serious or deadly cases very low compared to the earlier waves.
So far, nearly 86 per cent of people aged over 12 have been fully vaccinated in Italy, and over 64 per cent of the target population have received the booster shot.
About 9.2 per cent of children aged 5-11 have received at least one vaccine dose.
Pan African health forum opens with call for swift pandemic response
The inaugural conference on public health in Africa (CPHIA 2021) began with leaders, policymakers, and scientists calling for enhanced response to the Covid-19 pandemic in light of new variants…reports Asian Lite News
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame said that reimagining Africa’s public health systems was urgent to boost the continent’s response to the pandemic amid its heavy toll on the economy and livelihoods, Xinhua news agency reported.
Pan African health forum opens with call for swift pandemic response
According to Kagame, the pandemic served as a wake-up call for the continent to invest in resilient health systems, boost local manufacturing of vaccines, drugs, and testing kits besides improving the skills of local healthcare personnel.
The first-ever conference on public health in Africa to take place virtually from December 14 to 16 will provide a platform to share best practices on how to reinvigorate the war against the pandemic, he added.
More than 10,000 participants, including Heads of state and governments, senior policymakers, scholars, advocates, and innovators will participate in the three-day conference convened by the African Union and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Issues to be discussed at the conference include creating a new public health order for the continent, collaborative research, and enhanced surveillance to boost response to future pandemics.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission noted that the continent’s economies, stability, and public health security had been shaken by the pandemic hence the need for a swift, well-coordinated response.
“The pandemic has created the urgency to build a resilient public health order in Africa. We need equitable health systems, research, training, and collaboration to boost response to the pandemic,” said Mahamat.
The continent’s ability to withstand the pandemic’s shocks hinges on improving its capacity to produce diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics amid disruptions in the global supply chains, he added.
John Nkengasong, the Director of Africa CDC, said the continent has drawn lessons from Covid-19 to strengthen home-grown interventions geared toward minimising strain on the public health systems.
According to Nkengasong, Africa is currently better prepared to respond to future pandemics amid revamped surveillance infrastructure, training of local epidemiologists, and improved public awareness.
Global vaccination plan only way to stop pandemic UN Chief
For the Secretary General, it was recent reforms that enabled the world body to adjust and respond quickly…reports Asian Lite News
“As a result, more than 90 per cent of host governments have indicated that the UN today is more relevant to their country’s development needs when compared to three years ago,” he said.
On the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, the UN Chief added that “we must intensify our efforts in this Decade of Action to deliver the sustainable development goals. This is vital to achieving a fair globalisation, boosting economic growth and preventing conflict.”
Antonio Guterres
Noting that the outcome of COP26 in Glasgow was the bare minimum required to keep the 1.5-degree promise of Paris alive, Guterres said that he counts on the leadership of the G77 and China over the coming year “to increase ambition and push for that ambition not only on mitigation, but on adaptation — a basic need for so many countries — on finance, and on loss and damage, where we still have such a long way to go.”
“We need a quantum leap in unity and solidarity to make collective decisions on the global challenges we face, from the climate crisis to our suicidal war on nature, unsustainable levels of inequality, and the unchecked development of new technologies,” he said.
