Saturday 27th July 2024
The coronavirus pandemic continues to march across the world while creating socioeconomic chaos in every country.
Witnessing the colossal impact of the contagion, the World Bank has reacted promptly in delivering support to various countries to protect the poor and vulnerable, enhance health systems, and promote economic recovery.
So far, the World Bank has provided USD 160 billion in grants and financial support over 15 months to help 100 countries fight the social and economic impacts of COVID-19.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be ahead of these strategies and reforms.
“The pandemic and shutdown of advanced economies could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty, erasing much of the recent progress made in poverty alleviation,” exclaimed World Bank Group President David Malpass.
Among the 100 vulnerable countries, 39 are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly one-third of the countries are in fragile and conflict-affected situations, such as Afghanistan, Chad, Haiti, and Niger.
The World Bank continues to provide support to 100 countries to strengthen health systems, scale-up social protection, support businesses, and procure medical supplies, among others.
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Some of the recent financial packages include-
So far, the coronavirus has infected 5,006,675 people and claimed 325,320 lives, globally. However, 1,973,815 patients have recovered successfully.
