The number of ships pulling into ports to unload and load containers rebounded in many parts of the world in the third quarter of 2020, according to new UNCTAD calculations. This offers a hopeful sign for world merchandise trade, which suffered a historic year-on-year fall of 27% in the second quarter.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most in-person health consultations have been postponed, telemedicine is once again coming forward as a way to maintain contact between patients and doctors by minimizing the risk of transmission of the novel coronavirus, and ensuring the continuity of consultation and treatment for those in need.

La pandemia del COVID-19 representará una contracción del 9% en América Latina a pesar de los esfuerzos de los gobiernos, las empresas y los trabajadores. La reactivación económica de la región requiere fuentes de financiación que sobrepasan las capacidades actuales, por ello CAF –banco de desarrollo de América Latina- además de otorgar una cifra récord de USD 16.000 millones este año, propone con el apoyo de sus 19 países accionistas, la estructuración de un fondo para el financiamiento de proyectos de infraestructura de integración y digital.

In a report released today, titled “Coming Together for Refugee Education,” UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, predicts that unless immediate and bold action is taken by the international community to beat back the catastrophic effects of COVID-19 on refugee education, the potential of millions of young refugees living in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities will be further threatened.  The data in the report is based on the gross enrolment figures from the 2019 school cycle.

La Organización Panamericana de la Salud cifra en unos 570.000 el número de trabajadores sanitarios infectados. Unas tres cuartas partes de los diagnosticados con la enfermedad son mujeres. Estados Unidos y México suman casi el 85% de todas las muertes por COVID-19 de estos profesionales en la región. El costo humano de la pandemia en América continúa alto con casi 4000 muertes al día.

“We have the highest number of health care workers infected in the world,” PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne said during a press conference today. “Our data shows that nearly 570,000 health workers across our region have fallen ill and more than 2,500 have succumbed to the virus.”

The program will finance special money transfers to households that hold the Uruguay Social Card (Tarjeta Uruguay Social in Spanish) and people that benefit from the Equity Plan Family Allocations (Asignaciones Familiares-Plan Equidad). As part of this effort, the plan will also support the creation of a One-Stop Digital Window designed to improve the efficiency of selecting and recertifying those who receive such money transfers.

The Uruguay Social Card seeks to guarantee basic access to food and other essentials for people living in extreme poverty. Equity Plan Family Allocations provide economic assistance to complement the income of families that live in precarious conditions and are raising children. They also seek to keep children in school and provide incentives to ensure that they get health check-ups.

General overview

Data is critical to support countries in managing the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This site provides an array of real-time data, statistical indicators, and other types of data that are relevant to the coronavirus pandemic. These data are drawn from the World Bank’s data catalog and other authoritative sources.

This extraordinary global situation demands a global response. As an answer, the United Nations Development Programme and Hackster.io are joining forces with the world’s brightest technology companies. We are calling on hardware and software developers, product designers, scientists, hackers, makers, and innovators to come together to work for those who will be hardest hit by this pandemic. 

Women are hardest hit by the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts. Beyond the direct effect of the infection by the coronavirus, women’s health and safety are at greater risk as increased prevalence of domestic violence and abuse is reported and sexual and reproductive health services are reduced. In this time of unprecedented crisis, women also face an increased burden of care and subsequent risk of getting sick because they represent the majority of front-line healthcare workers and caregivers in homes and communities globally. This is all in addition to the disproportionate indirect impact of the pandemic on women’s livelihoods everywhere. With the majority of women working in the informal economy, they often lack health insurance and social security, putting them further at risk. 

As the communication needs of the Region evolve during the pandemic, PAHO continued to disseminate key messages across multiple platforms, and to respond to media enquiries. The infographics cover a range of issues related to COVID-19, including tips for older adults to keep active and health during COVID-19.

OpenWHO is WHO’s new interactive, web-based, knowledge-transfer platform offering online courses to improve the response to health emergencies. OpenWHO enables the Organization and its key partners to transfer life-saving knowledge to large numbers of frontline responders.

El crecimiento era tenue, pero estaba estabilizándose cuando golpeó el Covid-19. Las restricciones sobre los movimientos de personas, bienes y servicios, y las medidas de contención aplicadas, como el cierre de fábricas, han hecho retroceder al sector industrial y recortado la demanda interna en China. El impacto sobre el resto del mundo a través de los viajes de negocios y el turismo, las cadenas de suministro, las materias primas y la caída de la confianza, está agravándose.

Latin America and the Caribbean has seen remarkable socio-economic progress since the beginning of the century. The macroeconomic situation of individual countries has strengthened, living standards have improved, and poverty and inequality have declined. Yet large structural vulnerabilities remain and new ones have emerged. Many of these are linked to countries’ transition to higher income and development levels. The Latin American Economic Outlook 2019: Development in Transition (LEO 2019) presents a fresh analytical approach in the region. It assesses four development traps relating to productivity, social vulnerability, institutions and the environment. It outlines local opportunities for responding to those traps and seeks ways of improving global public goods to reinforce national agendas, all in the context of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. LEO 2019 calls for improving domestic capacities and adopting a new vision of international co-operation as a facilitator to support those efforts.

This report aims at supporting education decision making to develop and implement effective education responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report explains why the necessary social isolation measures will disrupt school-based education for several months in most countries around the world. Absent an intentional and effective strategy to protect opportunity to learn during this period, this disruption will cause severe learning losses for students. The report proposes that leaders of education systems and organizations develop plans for the continuation of education through alternate modalities, during the period of necessary social isolation. It offers a framework of areas to be covered by such plans. Based on a rapid assessment of education needs and emerging responses in ninety eight countries, the report identifies the most salient needs that should be addressed in these plans, as well as the areas likely to face more implementation challenges. It also examines the education responses of various countries to the crisis. Based on an analysis of data from the most recent administration of the PISA survey, the report also describes the challenges facing various education systems to depend on online education as an alternative modality.

This document, as well as any data and any map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area

The COVID-19 pandemic has wide implications for the socio-economic fabric worldwide. In addition to health fears, citizens are facing a host of financial uncertainties stemming from the temporary closure of businesses, schools, public facilities and quarantines, as well as instability in the stock market and retirement income uncertainties. These can result in lost income, trouble paying bills, and meeting other financial obligations, as well as the risk of falling victim to scams and fraud. Policy makers worldwide need to increase the awareness of citizens about effective means to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential long-term consequences for their financial resilience and well-being. Taking domesticcontextsintoaccount,governmentscouldconsiderthefollowinginitialmeasures

The COVID-19 pandemic is harming health, social and economic well-being worldwide, with women at the centre. First and foremost, women are leading the health response: women make up almost 70% of the health care workforce, exposing them to a greater risk of infection. At the same time, women are also shouldering much of the burden at home, given school and child care facility closures and longstanding gender inequalities in unpaid work. Women also face high risks of job and income loss, and face increased risks of violence, exploitation, abuse or harassment during times of crisis and quarantine.Policy responses must be immediate, and they must account for women’s concerns. Governments should consider adopting emergency measures to help parents manage work and caringresponsibilities, reinforcing and extending income support measures, expanding support for small businesses and the self-employed, and improving measure to help women victims of violence. Fundamentally, all policy responses to the crisis must embed a gender lens and account for women’s unique needs, responsibilities and perspectives

What are countries doing to contain the spread of the coronavirus? How are countries helping people, small businesses and the economy to weather the crisis and beyond? This Country Policy Tracker helps you to navigate the global response.