The outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic not only affected a global health emergency but also a sustainable development crisis. To restore Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) progress, developing countries need a significant increase in fiscal space, through global tax reform and expanded financing by the multilateral development banks.
The Global Report highlights the work carried out by UNHCR in 2020 to protect and improve the lives of tens of millions of people, refugees, returnees, internally displaced people, stateless persons, and others of concern. It highlights the achievements and problems faced by UNHCR and its partners as it dealt with the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19 and still managed to respond to multiple crises and ever-growing displacement and humanitarian needs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly created new barriers to building inclusive and prosperous economies and socieities. Pre-existing gender gaps have amplified the crisis asymmetrically between men and women, even as women have been at the frontlines of managing the crisis as essential workers. Observably, he hardest hit sectors by lockdowns
With over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the race between vaccine and virus entered a new phase in the Middle East and Central Asia region, and the path to recovery in 2021 is expected to be long and divergent. The outlook will vary significantly across countries, depending on the pandemic’s path, vaccine rollouts, underlying fragilities, exposure to tourism and contact-intensive sectors, and policy space and actions.
Following the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Sub-Saharan countries experienced the worst growth estimated at -1.9 percent contributing an increase in poverty thus a decline in the livelihoods of the masses. In 2021, macroeconomic policies in many countries encountered some difficult choices. Saving lives remained the first priority, which will require access to affordable vaccines, ensuring that the logistical and administrative prerequisites of a vaccination rollout are in place, targeted containment efforts, and added spending to strengthen local health systems.
