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Romeo and juliet

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Love letters of famous men

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By Jane Austen

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By Charles Dickens

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By Oscar Wilde

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By Lewis Carrol

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Hacksaw ridge

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1984

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Animal farm

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Anne with an e

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Authorities declared a three-month state of emergency in early September after the worst flooding in 30 years.

To date, more than 860,000 people have had houses destroyed or damaged and more than 120 people have died.

Some 560 schools and thousands of health facilities have also been affected, compromising essential services to communities, especially in North Darfur, Khartoum, West Darfur and Sennar, which account for 52 per cent of all people affected.

400,000 reached and counting

The response by UN agencies and partners has reached more than 400,000 people so far, including emergency shelter and essential household items relief to over 181,000 flood-affected refugees, 1.87 million internally displaced people and Sudanese across the country.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 virus transmission has continued, with 13,653 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 836 deaths, according official data from the World Health Organization ( WHO).

Amid growing needs, surging inflation - reaching nearly 170 per cent in August - has caused a shortage of basic commodities and increased prices of some locally sourced supplies by 300 to 400 per cent.

"In some cases, by the time the procurement process is finalized, the supplies have increased prices, so that the original budgets are no longer valid", said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.

He explained that this meant the purchasing process had to begin again and "there is no guarantee that by the time that that process is done, that the prices will not have risen once again".

Healthcare costs have also increased by up to 90 per cent, OCHA Sudan said in a recent tweet.

In Geneva, Mr. Laerke noted that the price of an average family food basket had increased by over 200 per cent since last year, based on World Food Programme ( WFP) data, increasing pressure on already dramatic levels of food insecurity across Sudan, where 9.6 million people are described as "severely" in need.

Cash shortfalls

Inflation has also affected the UN's humanitarian partners which provide cash support to vulnerable families, as they are constantly having to adjust the amounts transferred, Mr. Laerke said.

Even with these adjustments, many families are no longer able to purchase what they need with the cash received.

Today, only one in four families who previously relied on outside assistance now receives it, the OCHA spokesperson said.

Crop failure

Another concern in Sudan is that large areas of farmland are under water or ruined just before harvest.

"Most families in Sudan already spent around 65 per cent of their income on food, so these price hikes lead to increased hunger and less education, health and other services that families de-prioritize as they try to cope with the economic hardship", Mr. Laerke explained.

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Sudan alert: Flooding and surging inflation threaten humanitarian assistance

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Authorities declared a three-month state of emergency in early September after the worst flooding in 30 years. To date, more than 860,000 people have had houses destroyed or damaged and more than 120 people have died.

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Protect the Progress: Rise, Refocus, Recover, 2020 highlights that since the movement was launched 10 years ago, spearheaded by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, there has been remarkable progress in improving the health of the world's women, children and adolescents, with under-five deaths reached an all-time recorded low in 2019, and more than 1 billion children were vaccinated over the past decade.

Coverage of immunization, skilled birth attendant and access to safe drinking water reached over 80 per cent. Maternal deaths declined by 35 per cent since 2000, with the most significant declines occurring from 2010. An estimated 25 million child marriages were also prevented over the past decade, says the report.

Prioritize women and girls: UN deputy chief

However, conflict, climate instability and the COVID-19 pandemic are putting the health and well-being of all children and adolescents at risk. The COVID-19 crisis, in particular, is exacerbating existing inequities, with reported disruptions in essential health interventions disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable women and children.

"We know that women and children are the foundation of our communities and of our future", said UN deputy chief, Amina Mohammed, in a video message broadcast during the report launch online. "Plans to respond to and recover from COVID-19 must prioritize their rights, and ensure continued access to services that support health, access to clean water, nutrition and education.

"While much is still unknown and uncertain, our collective goal endures: for women, children and adolescents everywhere to survive and thrive, and for their lives to be transformed", added the Deputy Secretary-General.

Death 'every six seconds'

"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a child under the age of five died every six seconds somewhere around the world", said Henrietta Fore, the UN Children's Fund ( UNICEF) Executive Director.

"Millions of children living in conflict zones and fragile settings face even greater hardship with the onset of the pandemic. We need to work collectively to meet immediate needs caused by the pandemic while also strengthening health systems. Only then can we protect and save lives."

Last year, 5.2 million children under the age of 5 and 1 million adolescents died of preventable causes. Every 13 seconds a newborn baby died. Every hour 33 women did not survive childbirth; and 33,000 girls a day were forced into marriages, usually involving much older men.

The report examines the deep-rooted inequities which continue to deprive women, children and adolescents of their rights, noting that where you are born, is a significant determinant of survival.

"For too long, the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents have received insufficient attention and services have been inadequately resourced", said former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Board Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Helen Clark.

"We call on all partners to work together to support governments to strengthen health systems and tackle the inequities that constrain progress."

Narrow the gap

The report calls upon the global community to fight COVID-19 while honoring and respecting commitments that can improve the lives of women and children, and not widen the gap between promise and reality.

"The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to turn back the clock on years of progress in reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health. This is unacceptable," said Muhammad Ali Pate, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank Group.

"The GFF partnership will double down on its efforts to engage with partners and countries and honor the global commitment to ensure that all women, adolescents and children can access the quality, affordable health care they need to survive and thrive."

The past decade of progress to advance the health of women, children and adolescents must be protected from the impact of the pandemic and the responses to it, the report emphasizes.

"As we respond to COVID-19 and reimagine a better future, with sustained peace, including at home, we must repeat unequivocally that the rights of women and girls are not negotiable. Even in times of crisis - especially in times of crisis - their sexual and reproductive health and rights must be safeguarded at all costs", said Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of UN reproductive rights agency, UNFPA.

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Conflict, climate crisis, threaten fragile gains to advance women and children's health

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Protect the Progress: Rise, Refocus, Recover, 2020 highlights that since the movement was launched 10 years ago, spearheaded by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, there has been remarkable progress in improving the health of the world's women, children and adolescents, with under-five deaths reached an all-time recorded low in 2019, and more than 1 billion children were vaccinated over the past decade.

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The Healthy People 2020 website has been archived. Access archived Healthy People 2020 content on Archive-It .

If you can't access the content you're looking for, visit the CDC National Center for Health Statistics website.

To see the latest Healthy People data and resources, visit the Healthy People 2030 site.

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The Healthy People 2020 website has been archived.

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The Healthy People 2020 website has been archived. Access archived Healthy People 2020 content on Archive-It . If you can't access the content you're looking for, visit the CDC National Center for Health Statistics website. To see the latest Healthy People data and resources, visit the Healthy People 2030 site.

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The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice

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About once in a generation, a global pandemic emerges and wreaks havoc on a vulnerable world population. This is why most of us have limited personal experience with such events. The present outbreak of a coronavirus-associated acute respiratory disease called coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is the third documented spillover of an animal coronavirus to humans that is causing a major epidemic in the last 2 decades.

Recent outbreaks such as severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome in 2012 were successfully confined to small regions of the planet. As such, they were of peripheral concern to allergists practicing in the United States because we and our patients were not exposed to them. Now that COVID-19 is affecting us and our patients directly, concerns about this novel emerging infection have gone, well... viral. It was only a matter of time until a global pandemic affected us, and our time has run out.

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Article Info

Publication History

Footnotes

No funding was obtained to prepare this article.

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.

Identification

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2020.03.008

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Linked Article

Telehealth: The future is now in allergy practice

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice Vol. 8 Issue 8

In Brief

We read with interest the Editorial by Portnoy et al,1 where the authors, in the face of the current pandemic, very elegantly summarize the main advantages and limitations of virtual appointments. Telemedicine (TM) has the potential to help enabling patients to get the supportive care they need, and the use of this tool is increasing.2 We agree with the authors that a pandemic is an unfortunate occurrence but it is also an opportunity to set up an infrastructure for providing care using TM, which can continue to be used in the future to provide convenient and cost-effective care to patients.

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About once in a generation, a global pandemic emerges and wreaks havoc on a vulnerable world population. This is why most of us have limited personal experience with such events.

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Hamilton

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Elisabeth
The golden age

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Les misérables