Theme: covid-19 and its influence on life Plan

Families

The Impact of the Pandemic on Family Life Across Cultures is an international research study led by Dr. Anis Ben Brik, distinguished and acknowledged expert in Social Policy and Sustainable Development, LSE alumnus, now Associate Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Public Policy in Qatar explores the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on family life across cultures. Twenty-one researchers from 40 countries across five continents are participating in this study. Eighteen partners are also contributing to this work. UNDESA is part of the project, sharing other participants’ vision and priority for the life and work of the home. Learn more about COVID-19 and Families.

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable at this time due to significantly higher rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases, lack of access to essential services, absence of culturally appropriate healthcare, and if any, under-equipped and under-staffed local medical facilities.
The first point of prevention is the dissemination of information in indigenous languages, thus ensuring that services and facilities are appropriate to the specific situation of indigenous peoples, and all are reached.
The large number of indigenous peoples who are outside of the social protection system further contributes to vulnerability, particularly if they are dependent on income from the broader economy – produce, tourism, handicrafts and employment in urban areas. In this regard, Governments should ensure that interim financial support measures include indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups.
Indigenous peoples are also seeking their own solutions to this pandemic. They are taking action and using traditional knowledge and practices as well as preventive measures – in their languages.
Sport is a major contributor to economic and social development. Its role is well recognized by Governments, including in the Political Declaration of the 2030 Agenda, which reflects on “the contribution sports make to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities, as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives.”
Since its onset, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread to almost all countries of the world. Social and physical distancing measures, lockdowns of businesses, schools and overall social life, which have become commonplace to curtail the spread of the disease, have also disrupted many regular aspects of life, including sport and physical activity. This policy brief highlights the challenges COVID-19 has posed to both the sporting world and to physical activity and well-being, including for marginalized or vulnerable groups. It further provides recommendations for Governments and other stakeholders, as well as for the UN system, to support the safe reopening of sporting events, as well as to support physical activity during the pandemic and beyond.
To safeguard the health of athletes and others involved, most major sporting events at international, regional and national levels have been cancelled or postponed – from marathons to football tournaments, athletics championships to basketball games, handball to ice hockey, rugby, cricket, sailing, skiing, weightlifting to wrestling and more. The Olympics and Paralympics, for the first time in the history of the modern games, have been postponed, and will be held in 2021
Responding to COVID-19 and Recovering Better is a compilation volume of UN DESA’s special policy brief series on the economic and social impact of COVID-19, which aims to complement and support the Secretary-General’s initiatives in response to COVID-19.
It presents detailed analysis and solid evidence needed for effective decision-making on a number of critical social and economic issues – including designing inclusive stimulus packages; preventing a global debt crisis; supporting countries in special situations; protecting the most vulnerable groups of people; strengthening the role of science, technology and institutions for an effective response; and working together to build back better and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

3. 
   COVID-19: Protecting people and societies
   

In only a few weeks, COVID-19 has profoundly changed our lives, causing tremendous human suffering and challenging the most basic foundations of societal well-being. Beyond the immediate impacts on health, jobs and incomes, the epidemic is increasing people’s anxiety and worry, affecting their social relations, their trust in other people and in institutions, their personal security and sense of belonging.
The short and medium-term impacts of COVID-19 will be particularly severe for the most disadvantaged and risk compounding existing socio-economic divides. This policy brief looks at the broad range of effects that COVID-19 will have on different aspects of people’s lives, with a focus on specific population groups such as children, women and the elderly. It calls for rapid and decisive action by governments in order to support the most vulnerable people highlighting the importance of a broad and coordinated policy response that includes strengthened social protection, education, health care, housing support and specific interventions to enhance personal security of women and children, as well as actions supporting vulnerable workers, small businesses, communities and regions left behind.
With close to 900 000 cases1 confirmed worldwide and the scale of contagion still rising in most affected countries, COVID-19 is causing tremendous human suffering with serious and long-term implications for people’s health, well-being and quality of life. Beyond the very obvious risks to physical health and to the economy, the epidemic is also affecting people’s social connectedness, their trust in people and institutions, their jobs and incomes, as well as imposing a huge toll in terms of anxiety and worry. COVID-19 is hitting at a time where inequality and social pressures in OECD countries are high; and many people and communities continue to be left behind despite the improvement of average living conditions in the past ten years or so.
While governments need to act swiftly and decisively to contain the spread of the virus, countries also need to assess the impacts of the disease and the counter-measures on all aspects of people’s lives, especially those most vulnerable, and integrate these distributional impacts in the response. While racing against the clock in a complex and uncertain environment, countries’ response to the COVID-19 crisis also needs to address the well-being perspective in a holistic and integrated manner, as opposed to a sectorial approach. Failing to do so risks deepening inequalities, possibly creating new divides and undermining the resilience of societies.
This policy brief looks at how the evolving COVID-19 crisis is affecting vulnerable people and communities, and specific population groups (children, women and the elderly) and places, across a broad range of dimensions. As other OECD policy briefs have addressed the effects on well-being dimensions such as health (OECD, 2020[1]; OECD, 2020[2]), employment (OECD, 2020[3]) and knowledge and skills (OECD, 2020[4]), as well as for selected population groups such as women (OECD, 2020[5]), the present note focuses on less explored dimensions, notably social connections, subjective well-being and mental health, personal security, financial vulnerability, stress and others. The policy brief also looks at policy responses for coordinated governance, protecting people and places left behind, and supporting small businesses and vulnerable workers; as well as identifying data gaps for an informed and evidence-based policy response in an evolving crisis.