Global Social Policy Digest 21.1: An equitable and sustainable recovery from COVID-19?

Abstract

All websites referenced were accessible in November 2020. This edition of the Digest covers the period from June 2020 to September 2020. COVID-19 and its containment measuresWhile the effects of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its COVID-19 disease continue to be felt by all, new and pre-existing inequities continue to be exacerbated amid efforts to cope with and contain the pandemic. In September 2020, Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, argued that COVID-19 is not only a pandemic, but in many places, a syndemic, 'characterized by biological and social interactions between conditions and states, interactions that increase a person's susceptibility to harm or worsen their health outcomes'. 1 Containing and mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 is a political choice, and recognizing this crisis as a syndemic in places where containment and mitigation efforts have failed 'allows us to recognize how political and social factors drive, perpetuate, or worsen the emergence and clustering of disease'. 2 As discussed throughout the current and preceding issue of the GSP Digest, promoting an equitable and sustainable transition and recovery from COVID-19 will require 'a larger vision, one encompassing education, employment, housing, food, and environment'. 3 As of 30 September 2020, a total of 33.6 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally since 30 December 2019 according to the World Health Organization (WHO), resulting in over 1 million deaths. 4,5 From June 2020 to September 2020, the Americas were the epicenter of COVID-19, with signs of a second wave threatening in Europe by the end of September 2020. The WHO transitioned from daily to weekly epidemiological reporting in August 2020 and began providing a weekly operational update as well. 6 For a list of relevant databases tracking COVID-19 policy responses across countries, please see GSP Digest 20.3.

What the EdTech Experience in Refugee Camps Can Teach Us in Times of School Closure. Blended Learning, Modular and Mobile Programs Are Key to Keeping Disadvantaged Learners in Education

“…As national governments turned to EdTech as an immediate response to COVID-19, in some cases providing digital devices and improved connectivity [8], it was hoped that children would continue learning by using online platforms at home [4]. Most evidently in remote areas and low-income countries this did not materialise [9,10].…”