This Guide is intended to support States in enacting or strengthening domestic legislation to combat falsified medical product-related crime and, in so doing, contributing to the protection of public health. States may use this Guide as a practical tool as they draft, amend or review relevant national legislation within their constitutional and legislative framework.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a Policy Tracker  which summarizes the key economic responses governments are taking to limit the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tracker includes 193 economies.

El IICA elaboró un Índice que permite aproximar el nivel de vulnerabilidad alimentaria de los países de las Américas ante el Covid-19. Tras analizar los posibles canales de trasmisión y capacidad de respuesta de los países de la región a la actual pandemia del coronavirus, se construyó el índice a partir de cuatro variables

This Special Report is the first in a series by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the evolution and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, and will update the economic and social analysis as the relevant information becomes available. The preparation of the Report will be headed by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Bárcena, with the technical support of the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary, Mario Cimoli, and the substantive divisions responsible for the topics addressed, as well as the subregional headquarters and country offices of ECLAC.

The Americas Business Dialogue (ABD), a mechanism for advancing a public-private dialogue on public policies, today released a series of recommendations that seek to support the governments of the hemisphere in their health and economic response to the emergency of COVID-19.

The 17 measures proposed by ABD can be found in the document Policy Recommendations on Addressing the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic and Mitigating Its Impacts .

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, the European Union and its Member States have observed cyber threats and malicious cyber activities targeting essential operators in Member States and their international partners, including in the healthcare sector. Since the beginning of the pandemic, significant phishing and malware distribution campaigns, scanning activities and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have been detected, some affecting critical infrastructures that are essential to managing this crisis.

Based on criminal information from investigations in the Member States, Europol is assessing the impact of the pandemic across three phases; current, mid- and long-term phase. The report anticipates developments across the threat landscape that will have an operational impact on law enforcement authorities across Europe. Europol also identifies five key factors that influence organised crime during and after the pandemic.

Large-scale, national efforts to utilize technology in support of remote learning, distance education and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are emerging and evolving quickly.

UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan

La CAF apoya a la región mediante una serie de instrumentos financieros y técnicos que complementan las medidas aplicadas por los gobiernos. Entre ellos se destaca una línea de crédito regional de emergencia de USD 2.500 millones para reforzar las medidas económicas anticíclicas.

También puso a disposición inmediata recursos de cooperación técnica no reembolsables por hasta USD 400 mil por país; y una línea de crédito contingente hasta por USD 50 millones por país para atención directa de los sistemas de salud pública y la protección de los más vulnerables

Por otra parte, el personal de la CAF junto a expertos en sectores estratégicos como salud, educación, economía, transporte, protección social, tecnología y gobernabilidad, trabajan en el diseño de políticas públicas adaptables a la realidad de cada país, las cuales están disponibles en este espacio en diversos formatos.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures taken in response raise the prospect of a steep downturn for numerous economies. A key concern is to prevent this initial shock from turning into an even deeper and prolonged recession. This brief stresses that social dialogue has the capacity to help. For example by shaping compromises whereby employers maintain jobs, workers accept shorter working hours while governments provide compensation, social dialogue functions as a crisis “circuit breaker”. Social dialogue can do so because it has both the capacity to coordinate different actors and because it tends to build trust. The brief illustrates this by referring to several recent cases where social partners, in collaboration with government, have quickly stepped up to the challenge by expanding short time work systems. The Global Deal partnership is pleased to offer its initial contribution to the struggle to address the COVID-19 crisis in the form of this short brief and the best practice examples of social dialogue that it showcases.

Understanding where Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are, how they operate, and where they pay taxes is crucial for sound policy making and sound macro-economic statistics. However, surprisingly little official statistics are currently available on individual MNEs. To fill this gap the OECD has begun to develop a new database – the Analytical Database on Individual Multinationals and Affiliates (ADIMA) – using a number of open big data sources that can provide new insights on individual MNEs and their global profiles. 

The United Nations Network on Migration released urgently needed practical recommendations with guidance for States and stakeholders on preventing and responding to COVID-19 in the context of immigration detention. By focusing on the development of non-custodial alternatives based in the community, the brief highlights steps that several governments have already taken to swiftly release migrants from detention and to provide access to healthcare, housing and other services regardless of migration status. The Network looks forward to feedback from all partners and to updating these recommendations on an ongoing basis. 

La pandemia de neumonía por coronavirus (COVID-19) ha cambiado drásticamente nuestra vida diaria, así como las perspectivas mundiales sobre lo que es importante. Alrededor del mundo las personas aplauden el increíble trabajo y la dedicación de los profesionales de la salud, quienes luchan en el frente de batalla contra esta crisis sanitaria. Sin embargo, como sociedad, hemos prestado atención también al trabajo esencial realizado en silencio por los hombres y las mujeres que a diario siguen poniendo al mundo en marcha: obreros industriales, quienes mantienen la línea de producción en movimiento; empleados de tiendas de comestibles, que colocan la mercadería en los estantes; y los agricultores y ganaderos, quienes trabajan incansablemente para alimentar al mundo. 

Jefes de Estado y Ministros de Finanzas del Caribe se reunieron con la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, para analizar las propuestas de alivio de la deuda y otras medidas para combatir los efectos de la pandemia.

“With the crisis expected to deepen before it improves, there are some foundational issues relating to health systems and people’s access to health services that, from our position as co-chairs of the International Partnership for Universal Health -Coverage 2030 (UHC2030), we want to highlight,” says the World Bank.

Health authorities should take specific steps to protect health care workers and communities during essential immunization activities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, say experts at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting the world under enormous strain, affecting the lives of everyone. The unprecedented measures adopted to flatten the infection curve include enforced quarantine, curfews and lockdowns, travel restrictions, and limitations on economic activities and public life. While at first sight, these enforcement measures and increased police presence at the borders and on the streets seem to dissuade crime, they may also drive it further underground. In trafficking in persons, criminals are adjusting their business models to the ‘new normal’ created by the pandemic, especially through the abuse of modern communications technologies. At the same time, COVID-19 impacts the capacity of state authorities and non-governmental organizations to provide essential services to the victims of this crime. Most importantly, the pandemic has exacerbated and brought to the forefront the systemic and deeply entrenched economic and societal inequalities that are among the root causes of human trafficking.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that is already having devastating impacts on the world economy –both directly and through necessary measures to contain the spread of the disease. These impacts are also being felt by the food and agriculture sector. While the supply of food has held up well to date, in many countries, the measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus are starting to disrupt the supply of agro-food products to markets and consumers, both within and across borders. The sector is also experiencing a substantial shift in the composition and –for some commodities –the level of demand.

The COVID-19 outbreak and its containment measures including the lockdown of much of the world's population has put corporate balance sheets under tremendous pressure. As observed during the financial crisis 12 years ago, governments are finding it necessary to engage in multiple rescue operations involving companies deemed to be systemically important. Unlike the previous crisis where government interventions mostly concerned ailing banks, interventions relating to COVID-19 have so far mostly focused on insolvency and illiquidity in industry sectors hard hit by the virus, such as aviation and tourism. Other sectors seem bound to follow as the fallout from the crisis spills over into the second half of the year.