Month: February 2021

This blog was first published in Brookings Future Development Blog, February 2, 2021. The authors are Cordelia Kenney, Kaci Kennedy McDade, Wenhui Mao, and Osondu Ogbuoji. Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse progress in global poverty reduction and in global health improvements among poor people. The links between health and poverty are clear: Poverty limits people’s ability to access medical care, safe living environments, and sufficient nutrition, the absence of which can have disastrous consequences. Conversely, good health enables employment and income generation. The pandemic will make it harder to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While 70 percent of the world’s poor already reside in middle-income countries (MICs), the World Bank projects that more than 100 million more people, most of them in MICs, might have fallen below…

This blog was first published in Brookings Future Development Blog, December 1, 2020. The authors are Ashwini Deshpande, Khaing Thandar Hnin, and  Tom Traill. During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, from late March to early August, Myanmar recorded just 360 cases and 6 deaths. Early in the crisis, the government rapidly implemented measures to contain the virus. Just as it started easing them though, the country was hit by a major second wave in mid-August. Daily cases increased from less than 10 per day in early August to over 1,000 per day in mid-October. This wave has overwhelmed Myanmar’s inadequate and understaffed health infrastructure. By November 20, there were 76,414 confirmed cases and 1,695 deaths (Figure 1). Figure 1a. Cumulative active confirmed cases, discharged patients and deaths Figure 1b.…