Question

Define the term crises and provide three explanations why a pendemic such as covid 19 could be regarded as a health crisis

Answer 1

Answer:

The COVID-19 pandemic may increase the number of people battling acute hunger, the United Nations says.

Climate change policies are coming second as officials focus on fighting the virus.

Income losses for informal economy workers could be “massive”, according to the International Labour Organization.

The pandemic could result in 7 million unintended pregnancies, the UN warns.

Many mass vaccination campaigns are being temporarily suspended.

The impact of the coronavirus crisis might be extending further than you think.

It’s no longer just the human and economic costs of the pandemic sparking the concern of scientists and humanitarians – other crises are at risk of being neglected by policy-makers or unwittingly exacerbated by the outbreak.

1. Hunger

COVID-19 leaves some of the world’s most vulnerable communities facing “a crisis within a crisis”, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Around the world, the economic downturn and rising unemployment will reduce people’s purchasing power, exacerbating the global hunger problem.

The 55 countries that are home to acutely food-insecure people in need of urgent humanitarian food and nutrition assistance “may face an excruciating trade-off between saving lives or livelihoods or, in a worst-case scenario, saving people from the coronavirus to have them die from hunger,” according to the Global Report on Food Crises 2020.

“The number of people battling acute hunger and suffering from malnutrition is on the rise yet again, says António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. “And the upheaval that has been set in motion by the COVID-19 pandemic may push even more families and communities into deeper distress.”

2. Climate

The climate was supposed to be top of the political and business agendas in 2020. Saving the planet was one of the key themes of the World Economic Forum’s 2020 meeting in Davos, where environmental activist Greta Thunberg addressed delegates.

3. Unemployment

The global economy will contract 3% in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund, a deeper downturn than that seen in the 2008–09 financial crisis. That’s likely to push unemployment up across the board, with the Fund predicting the unemployment rate will rise to 10.4% this year, from 3.7% in 2019, and to 9.2% from 6.6% in advanced European countries.