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Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Sierra Leone

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Sierra Leone
Government findings in 2020 report a 60% decline in average weekly profits for businesses operating in Sierra Leone. However, customer demand witnessed an 80% decline by late May. Around 60%-70% of businesses had “difficulties accessing suppliers.” The liquidity status of several businesses declined and 52% were behind or likely to fall behind on paying their rents. Employees reported momentary layoffs, while others experienced reductions in working hours, to reach around four to six hours. The impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Sierra Leone is further exemplified through youth unemployment, which forced the closure or scaled down operations of many youth-owned businesses in Sierra Leone. Youth unemployment reached 60% in 2021 and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 4% in 2020.

Impact on Tourism Sector

Prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic, 71,000 tourists visited Sierra Leone in 2019 and projections have stated that tourism generated $39.00 million corresponding to 0.93% of GDP. This is demonstrating the power tourism has on the country’s income and economy. With travel restrictions, the level of tourism fell by 77.3% in 2020 as per Ministry of Finance records. This pushed 97% of tourism businesses into experiencing a massive impact on operations. Besides that, 29% of them encountered either provisional or permanent closure.

Accordingly, it is evident that the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Sierra Leone is showcased through its direct ramifications on the country’s economic strength and employment rate, especially with 8,000 people working in the tourism sector indicating its importance in the development of Sierra Leone.

Food Security and Livelihood

Around 30% of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown live on less than $1 per day, the international poverty line standing at around $1.90 per day. Among 116 countries, Sierra Leone ranked 106 in the 2021 Global Hunger Index illustrating the severity of the food crisis. Recent 2022 records validate that 73% of the population is experiencing food insecurity, 11% of which are acutely food insecure. This illustrates direct challenges to human welfare and basic standards of living, especially as 74% of households reported using more than 75% of their income on food.

Economic Assistance

To build and encourage economic resilience, in 2020, the World Bank permitted the International Development Association to support Sierra Leone with a grant worth $100 million. Such financing supports the development of greater productivity in varying sectors including agriculture, a primary sector of Sierra Leone’s economy. In 2021, economic growth accounted for 3.1%, with agriculture contributing for half the rise.

To further sustain the government’s ability in delivering rudimentary human rights such as education and health care services in the midst of an economic crisis, in 2020 the European Union allocated €10 million in economic support. For instance, improvements in health care are evident in the infant mortality rate, declining from 78.643 for every 1,000 births in 2019 to 72.253 for every 1,000 births in 2022.

Supporting Unemployed Youth

In 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched a vocational training program in Sierra Leone worth $4.3 million to close the gap between labor and the necessary skills the market demands. This program has reached out to 940 participants thus far and seeks to eradicate unemployment in the country by developing skilled labor, thereby fostering a population capable of initiating independent economic growth, according to IOM.

A similar effort by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) promoted inclusive growth among rural areas in Sierra Leone. The UNDP trains youth with a skillset that advances their employability prospects in a globalized world.

Partnering with Restless Development and the Institute of Development and Humanitarian Assistance-IDHA, the UNDP further issued grants to over 1,000 youth business owners to preserve businesses from closing, as reported on its website. Business owners reported they have been able to grow their businesses, as well as offer employment opportunities.

Nutrition and Food Assistance

With collective effort from the European Union, the U.S. and China among other multilateral donors, the World Food Programme (WFP) delivered food and nutritional support for around 540,000 people across Sierra Leone in 2021. To further support the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund Project, the WFP partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture to enable the development of inland valley swamps and create a continuous and lifelong food supply.

In January 2022, the OPEC Fund for International Development also provided contributions by extending two loans worth $35 million to curb hunger and encourage food security for 1.4 million Sierra Leoneans.

The impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Sierra Leone has presented pronounced challenges on varying economic and social levels. However, with the right collective efforts such as UNDP grants, the economy can recover to allow its population to lead a prosperous future.

– Noor Al-Zubi
Photo: Unsplash

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The Need for More Aid to Latin America

Aid to Latin America
The diverse sprawl of nations that make up Latin America and the Caribbean is currently mired in the intense ramifications of inequity and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite internal efforts from across Latin American nations to fight off poverty, inequality and illness, it is evident that more foreign aid to Latin America is necessary. The aid should fall into the two main categories of helping maintain sovereignty for Latin Americans and growing their economies.

The Current Crisis

The most significant threat to lifting Latin American nations out of poverty is the rate of high inequality paired alongside low social program spending, which has resulted in the region accounting for 28% of total global COVID-19 fatalities by April 2022 despite only making up 8.4% of the world’s population. In addition, ineffective cash transfers and tax systems, which often neglect to collect from the wealthiest citizens, result in women, Indigenous communities and other marginalized groups bearing the brunt of the economic fallout.

The impact of the pandemic has only exacerbated the issues of low social program spending and lack of progressive taxation. Increased food insecurity, economic contraction of 7.4% in the region in 2020, as well as increased poverty and extreme poverty rates, all paint the current picture of economic and social inequality in Latin America and the need for more aid to alleviate the region’s levels of poverty.

Current Aid

Funds are currently in play, supplying aid to Latin America for COVID-19 relief and future infrastructure support. The World Bank initiated funding for public health systems throughout 2021, various industry support funds, vaccines and emergency health response improvement. Countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Panama have received substantive aid with the primary focus on COVID-19 and health-related recovery.

Over the past 20 years, the need for aid in Latin America and the Caribbean has remained high, but due to developmental growth in the region, the “U.S. government has increasingly concentrated those resources in fewer countries and sectors.”

The rate of poverty in the region reduced from 45.3% in 2002 to 30.5% in 2019. However, around 2015, progress in many Latin American nations began to stagnate. Political instability deteriorated economic conditions in nations such as Nicaragua and Venezuela, and poverty levels only worsened across the region in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Biden administration has proposed as of March 31, 2022, a foreign assistance budget of $2.1 billion for aid to Latin America and the Caribbean. However, these funds have yet to receive approval and the type of causes that the money would go to suggests that there is no exclusive focus on marginalized groups and women in these countries.

The Necessary Aid

An Amnesty International report in April 2022 shows the need for more aid to Latin America in the coming months, but the kind of aid that goes beyond basic health and economic assistance. Most notably, countries must rework the frame of providing funding and aid by opting for a “human rights-based approach to recovering from the pandemic and tackling inequality.”

Looking Ahead

With much of the impact of the social and economic fallout of the pandemic falling on the women of these countries, aid that is to come to the region must take into account how services and economic improvements can work for women. Aid that helps Latin American countries provide financial investment for improved infrastructure is aid that can help alleviate poverty. In addition, aid with a focus on equality and taking into account the social and economic discrepancies on a nation-by-nation basis can more adequately contribute to ending poverty in Latin America.

– Albert Vargas
Photo: Flickr

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Kangaroo Mother Care: A Newborn Care Technique

Newborn Care
In 2020 alone, about 2.4 million newborns died around the globe. But, one simple newborn care technique could help bring this number down. This type of infant care is kangaroo mother care.

About Kangaroo Mother Care

Kangaroo mother care describes a style of newborn care for preterm or low birth weight infants that maximizes skin-to-skin contact between the mother and her baby and emphasizes exclusive breastfeeding — an alternative to incubator care where infants and mothers are separated for most of the day. Mothers practicing kangaroo mother care typically spend more than 15 hours each day holding their infants in a way that allows for skin-to-skin contact.

Kangaroo mother care has many benefits. Research has shown that for infants with low birth weight, this type of care can improve body temperature regulation, decease chances of hypothermia, improve physiological stability, foster healthier sleeping patterns, decrease the chance of infection or illness, and, most notably, lead to a 40% drop in mortality when compared with conventional care using an incubator or infant warmer.

How Kangaroo Mother Care is Changing

A group of Colombian doctors developed kangaroo mother care in the 1970s as a way to care for premature infants in resource-scarce hospitals. Those doctors soon found that the practice led to an unexpected drop in neonatal mortality, a trend that years of subsequent research have confirmed.

Though the practice has been slowly gaining popularity over the past several decades, new research pointed to a simple change to the technique that could make it more effective. A 2021 study that the World Health Organization (WHO) organized found that starting kangaroo mother care immediately after birth, rather than waiting for the infant to first become stable, could make kangaroo mother care even more effective at reducing infant mortality.

The study collected data from participants in five low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa and compared patients who practiced immediate kangaroo mother care to those who waited for the infant to stabilize before initiating kangaroo mother care, the approach that the WHO currently recommends. Beginning kangaroo mother care without waiting for the baby to stabilize led to a 25% reduction in mortality beyond the mortality reduction already associated with traditional kangaroo mother care, the study found. The WHO estimates that implementing this earlier start to kangaroo mother care could save as many as 150,000 babies’ lives every year.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic has affected how medical professionals approach many aspects of health care, including newborn care. A survey published in March 2021 with 1,120 respondents from 62 mostly low- and middle-income countries demonstrated that neonatal health care providers were less likely to practice kangaroo mother care during the pandemic.

Of the survey respondents, two-thirds said that they would not allow a mother who had tested positive for COVID-19 to engage in kangaroo mother care and more than one in five said they would not permit the practice even if the mother had tested negative. More generally, 85% of providers reported regularly implementing the practice before the pandemic while only 55% of providers said they still implement the practice during the pandemic.

The Benefits Outweigh Risks

Despite the decrease in kangaroo mother care during the pandemic, a separate analysis demonstrated that, for low-birth-weight infants, the benefits of kangaroo mother care far outweighed the risks that COVID-19 posed. Even in a worst-case scenario where the transmission rate between infected mothers and their infants is 100%, the mortality reduction from the practice still outweighed the mortality risk from COVID-19 65-fold. In reality, the COVID-19 transmission rate is much lower than 100%, so the benefits that this model estimates are conservative.

Given the relatively low risk of COVID-19 when compared with the benefits of kangaroo mother care, educating mothers and health care providers globally on this reality could help save countless infants’ lives. Inadequate dissemination of information, however, is not the only barrier to practicing kangaroo mother care during the pandemic.

Fewer women are opting to give birth in hospitals due to fear of catching COVID-19 and resource-strapped hospitals are sending patients home earlier. The latest data from the Africa CDC indicates that only 18.3% of Africans have received full vaccinations to protect against COVID-19. Increased vaccine distribution has the potential not only to protect more Africans from infection but to improve access to infant health care, including kangaroo mother care.

While COVID-19 has become another obstacle on the path to ending infant mortality, new findings promise a straightforward and cost-free approach to improving low birth weight newborns’ outcomes. Simply starting kangaroo mother care a few days earlier could save tens of thousands more babies’ lives every year.

– Anna Inghram
Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic

The Impact of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic
The impact of COVID-19 on the Dominican Republic has changed the country a lot in recent years. Despite the return to normalcy that a lot of the more developed parts of the world have experienced, there are still a lot of struggling countries that require U.S. assistance and the Dominican Republic is one of those countries.

The Dominican Republic’s Response

One can see the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in the Dominican Republic in its poverty rate. This statistic was on a downward trend from 2008 to 2020, but afterward, the country saw its poverty rate increase by 2.4% from 21% to 23.4%. With a lack of medical care like ventilators and limited spots in ICU beds, the pandemic hit the country hard. Tourism, which is the country’s largest market and an important industry to many residents, saw a major decrease in 2020.

The Dominican Republic saw almost 5 million fewer foreign travelers in 2020, which led to an increase in its unemployment rate to 8.9% and resulted in a 6.7% reduction in the GDP. Since then, the country has seen a historic rise in tourism, and a drop in unemployment. Projections have determined that the Dominican Republic’s unemployment rate could reduce to 6% by the end of 2022 as the country relaxes its travel restrictions.

Social Assistance and Poverty Rates in the Dominican Republic

This is due largely in part to the social assistance programs, like the aptly named “Superate” which translates to “to overcome.” This program facilitated the transition back into the labor market as the country planned to re-open in phases similar to the rest of the world. The country also took quick action in terms of relief for its citizens by implementing interest rate cuts and tax relief to support its poorer citizens and hemorrhage its bleeding economy. While support systems have mitigated the impact of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic, both its poverty rate and Latin America’s poverty rate rose in 2021 and will likely reach 33% in the region by the end of 2022. However, some of this increase may be due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The US’s Response

The United States has strong ties to the Dominican Republic and the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in the Dominican Republic has been an opportunity to strengthen those ties by sending aid to the country. Donating 50 ventilators in 2020 and building field hospitals to compensate for the country’s lack of medical equipment and space.

In March 2022, the U.S. peace corps dispatched 35 volunteers to different countries including the Dominican Republic. The volunteers have been working in host communities to help with anything from agriculture to economic growth. They assist with tasks such as recovering the literacy of students after school closures due to the pandemic. Peace Corps volunteers have also been helping at-risk youth gain valuable life skills like employability and educating them about sexual reproductive health.

The goal of the peace corps within the Dominican Republic’s communities is to also strengthen the education system that is already there while also building on it and creating new institutions for education. The United States committed millions of dollars in medical equipment and aid to help contain the spread of COVID-19 within the country. It is extremely important for the U.S. to provide foreign aid to countries in need, as it provides many benefits in the long run for this country.

Looking Ahead

The U.S. has played a significant role in the fight against COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic due to its immense resources, but more work is necessary. Despite the progress in the Dominican Republic and similar countries, the U.S. has more to give regarding repelling COVID-19 and should be able to help alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on the Dominican Republic into the future.

– Alex Peterson
Photo: Flickr

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COVID’s Impact on The Mental Health of the Homeless Population

Homeless Population
In times of emergency, people do not always think about how it will impact an under-served and underprivileged population. The global homeless population’s mental health has suffered tremendously throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which one cannot see to the naked eye. Mental health often goes unnoticed during these times of intense stress. One should not forget how the global homeless population’s mental health needs continual assistance, especially during a global pandemic, where fear and misinformation can fly rampant. The closure of everyday activities or assistance can be startling for a homeless population, possibly pushing them into harm’s way in the forms of substance abuse or violence. The global homeless population’s mental health relies on an everyday schedule and/or assistance programs to survive and when a global pandemic threatens it, living can become challenging.

COVID-19’s Impact on Homeless People

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected the global homeless population. According to a study published in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), “Infectious disease epidemics and pandemics have a disproportionate impact on people experiencing poverty, marginalization, stigmatization and discrimination.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, a disparity is evident in people experiencing homelessness. Homeless shelters are a perfect environment for the spreading of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) due to shared, crowded, living spaces, which make it difficult to physically distance and a high population turnover. Homeless people have a greater chance of chronic health conditions that increase poorer outcomes if they develop COVID-19. The global homeless population’s mental health can also create a barrier to trust in following pandemic protocols.

Global Mental Health

The abrupt closure of assistance programs, resources, counseling and health services can cause the global homeless population’s mental health to decline. The disruption in social engagement and supportive relationships can be detrimental to mental health. According to a CMAJ study, the added stress of businesses closing could drive homeless people to seek out alcohol or drugs, which can negatively affect the homeless population’s mental health.

Homeless people during the pandemic have limited access to job opportunities which can further displace them, creating financial problems as well as mental health issues. With nowhere to go and nowhere to work, the COVID-19 pandemic has isolated the homeless population and negatively affected the global homeless population’s mental health.

According to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, in France, during the spring of 2020, homeless shelter residents showed “high rates of depression, with 30% presenting moderate-severe symptoms.” The same study proved moderate to severe depression was noted in approximately one-third of homeless persons interviewed. Women, younger populations, single people and chronically sick or food insecure people were at the greatest risk of experiencing depression.

Since the beginning of the lockdown in France, increased loneliness was at 37% of the homeless people that the study interviewed. Also, higher levels of worry involving isolation were present amongst depressed participants.

A Solution to the Problem of Isolation

A study that Cambridge University Press published has offered multiple ideas to mitigate isolation and the negative effects caused by the pandemic on the global homeless populations’ mental health. To monitor the collective health and emotional function of the global homeless populations’ mental health, the physical, mental and spiritual health, integrated support in pandemic health care should regulate it. Community members must seek to provide basic care to underprivileged people in their communities if they want to take their mental health seriously. The same study also offers the solution of “counseling session, spiritual direction and mental health support to nourish the spiritual and psychological wellbeing of the homeless population.”

All institutions should join together in fighting against the pandemic’s negative effects on the global homeless population’s mental health. During this time, people should lift one another up, serving the communities that COVID-19 affected the most.

– Kaley Anderson
Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Sudan

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Sudan
The African nation of Sudan has faced ongoing turbulence. The country has endured violent conflict, transfers of power and severe economic turmoil. For Sudanese citizens, one current and very dangerous threat is the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Sudan.

Political and Economic Challenges in Sudan

In the last 70 years, Sudan has seen two civil wars. The first lasted from 1955 to 1972 and the second began in 1983 and ended in 2005. Six years later, in 2011, Sudan split in two as a portion of the country seceded and became the independently-governed South Sudan. However, the data this article presents is not applicable to South Sudan.

Most of Sudan’s society is tribal and many citizens live in rural nomadic communities. The economy is struggling and COVID-19 has worsened these circumstances. According to the latest available data from UNICEF’s 2018-2021 Country Programme document, about 36% of the population is currently impoverished and a quarter of all Sudanese citizens live in extreme poverty.

Before 2011, oil accounted for 95% of Sudan’s exported goods, but Sudan lost all that revenue when the country split, which damaged the already fragile economy even further. When the South Sudanese civil war broke out in 2013, refugees rushed north and Sudan saw a dramatic increase in refugees. As of September 2021, Sudan hosts more than 1.1 million refugees from other countries, adding to Sudan’s strain.

The Arrival of COVID-19 in Sudan

As is the case with many low-income countries, the arrival of COVID-19 in Sudan presented significant challenges. Limited resources make it difficult to stop outbreaks. Due to minimal resources, case reporting and testing lag behind and the vaccine rollout is small-scale. As of May 1, 2022, Sudan has administered slightly more than 7 million vaccine doses, which covers slightly more than 16% of the population.

April 2019 marked then-President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir’s removal from office, and the following September, a new system of government came into place. Thus, it is unsurprising that when the pandemic began, the new government was ill-equipped to deal with it. Many health services had no choice but to shut down due to high rates of mortality and infection among employees.

After the appearance of the first COVID-19 cases in March 2020, the Sudanese government imposed a lockdown that lasted from April 2020 to July 2020, although this proved ineffective due to community resistance and insufficient law enforcement.

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Sudan

As the second wave of COVID-19 in Sudan hit in November 2020, mortality rates began to rise among citizens of all ages. At the highest mortality point, one out of every five intensive care patients died from COVID-19.

COVID-19 also threatens Sudanese food security. A “survey of 4,032 rural and urban households across the 18 states of Sudan” from June 16, 2020, to July 5, 2020, reveals “the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.” More than 50% of people in Sudan could not access main staple foods. Many people had to change their practices regarding food and almost half of the families surveyed reported food security concerns.

Most people have not received any type of aid from the government. At the time of the survey, around two-thirds of previously employed citizens had not returned to work.

USAID Assists Sudan

Fortunately, the United States is lending a hand, and as of February 2022, USAID has donated more than 1.2 million vaccine doses and $98 million to assist Sudan with COVID-19. Aside from vaccine rollout, USAID is also assisting with food and water distribution, sanitation, COVID-19 testing, clinical management and public information efforts. USAID mission director, Mervyn Farroe, said in a statement, “USAID/Sudan is committed to building back a better world, one that is better prepared to prevent, detect and respond to future biological threats, and where all people can live safe, prosperous and healthy lives.”

Overall, the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Sudan has been hard-hitting. The country has endured significant stress for decades and recent political events compound issues and place grave strain on the economy. With more than a million refugees, a quarter of the population in extreme poverty and continuing impacts from the secession, COVID-19 in Sudan is the latest in a long list of reasons why Sudan is in dire need of international aid.

– Mia Sharpe
Photo: Flickr

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Unveiling Italy’s Stimulus Package

Italy’s Stimulus
On May 1, Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced the approval of the new economic stimulus package dedicated to minimizing the impact of the war in Ukraine on Italian citizens and workers. Italy has a heavy reliance on many imported Russian goods. Of all the European Union nations, Italy will likely face the worst economic growth and supply chain issues the country has seen for decades.

The Economic Difficulties Causing the Need for Italy’s Stimulus Package

Italy’s stimulus package comes to lessen the impact of the war in Ukraine. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) makes economic growth predictions annually. After the beginning of the war, the EIU changed its forecasts. The original projection for Italy’s economy was a growth rate of 4.4% but decreased to 3.4% within three months. Due to the investments and changes Italy must make over the next few months to support its economy and citizens the stimulus package will be necessary to aid future economic growth and security.

Russia originally supplied around 40% of Italy’s gas supply. Italy is determined to lessen its dependence on Russian gas and had been looking to do so before the conflict, but the war has sped up the need for change. Italy is hoping to increase its reliance on Algeria for its gas supply. Still, additional factors are at play with the deal Italy and Algeria have struck. According to Politico, Algeria needs to update its infrastructure for the gas industry, as investments in that sector have been lacking. The need for gas most likely means Italy must be the primary investor in the industry to receive the amount of gas necessary to support the country’s needs.

One of the other sectors that the lack of Russian support will hit the hardest is the tourism industry. Italy’s tourism industry, which like that of most nations experienced a decline in tourist numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, will not recover to its original numbers without the assistance of Russian tourists. Overall, Russian tourists are only a small percentage of Italy’s tourists, about 1.5%. However, their economic impact is still significant because of how much they spend. Russian tourists spend almost €1 billion in Italy in 2019, La Prensa Latina reports. Countless other Italian industries and business sectors will suffer due to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the domino effect it has had on economies worldwide. Italian citizens will be incredibly grateful for the government’s quick moves to draft the stimulus package.

How is it Different from Past Stimulus Packages?

This new stimulus package is not Italy’s first. The government sent out the last of Italy’s most recent stimulus packages in March 2021 for €32 billion. Around €11 billion in that package went to companies that lost at least 30% of their income in 2020. Eight billion euros of the stimulus was for fighting poverty and supporting employment and those in unemployment too. The COVID-19 stimulus package allocated €900 million for seasonal workers and €5 billion for purchasing vaccines and unexpected additional health care costs.

Prime Minister Draghi said this about Italy’s stimulus package in 2021, “This decree is a significant and very coherent response to poverty and businesses, it is a partial response, but it is the maximum that we have been able to do,” Euronews reports. Italian absolute poverty decreased from 7.7% in 2020 to 7.5% in 2021, showing a positive trend and the overarching benefits of Italy’s stimulus packages.

Overall, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy spent more than €200 billion to counteract economic damages. Thankfully, by the end of 2021, Italy’s economy grew by 6.5%, having recovered from the worst of the financial crises that the pandemic initiated. Italy’s stimulus package in 2022 provides hope and expectations for a similar recovery despite the difficulties.

What Will This Stimulus Package Do for Italy?

Italy’s stimulus package in response to the war in Ukraine has various components, including individual bonuses of €200 to middle and low-income families. The package secures bank loans too and directs funds at supporting families struggling with the cost of living as prices skyrocket. One of the most burdensome costs internationally is the cost of gas. The Italian government extended the cut on rising gas prices. The prices cannot increase an additional 25 cents per liter (0.25 gallons) of gas until at least July 8, 2022, when the government hopes to have the rising prices under control.

Rising prices dramatically changed Italians’ ability to purchase construction materials. Thus, the Italian government is setting aside €3 billion to help the construction companies immediately battle these prices. According to Reuters, Italy’s stimulus package sets aside an additional €400,000 in grants and funding for guarantees on bank loans and grants for all types of firms and companies impacted by the sanctions on Russian companies and products.

The funding for most of Italy’s stimulus package comes from newly created taxes on energy companies. The taxes ensure that the burden of significantly increased prices does not fall on the individuals who have been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Clara Mulvihill
Photo: Flickr

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Scam Call Centers in India and Poverty

Scam Call Centers in India
India has one of the most sophisticated and developed call center industries, so much so that many other countries outsource their jobs to India. However, scam call centers exist in India, which is an illegal underground part of this industry. While these centers are not a new concept, they had become increasingly prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in India. A Microsoft 2021 survey found that India is perceived “as the hub of [scam] call center talent being put to criminal use,” defrauding many countries such as the United States, Canada and even the people within India itself.

This particular survey, comprising 16 countries and 16,254 adult internet users, concluded that seven out of 10 people from India “encountered tech support scams in the past year.” With the prevalence of scam calls in India rising from 23% in 2018 to 31% in 2021, police raids in the nation aim to combat scam call centers in India. The Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment is also taking the initiative to improve job outcomes for youth, indirectly preventing people, especially youth, from resorting to these illegal practices.

Poverty as a Driving Factor

Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to India’s National Statistical Office, India endured a harsh economic contraction of almost 24% “in the first quarter of the 2020-2021 fiscal year,” marking the “worst decline among the world’s major economies releasing GDP figures for that same quarter.” In December 2021, India noted an unemployment rate of 7.91%, up from 6.3% in 2018-2019, according to Al Jazeera. Furthermore, close to 30 million Indian citizens between the ages of 20 and 29 faced unemployment in 2021, which equated to 85% of the total unemployed population, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Due to these circumstances of unemployment, people search for jobs wherever they can find them, sometimes falling victim to fraudulent job opportunities or even participating in fraudulent work as a last resort.

Victims of Scam Call Centers

Scammers will target whoever they can get money from, whether young or old. In the United States, it is common for scammers to target the elderly and vulnerable populations, with scammers allegedly using tactics such as fear to steal money. IRS and Social Security scammers threaten to arrest their victims if they do not receive the money, among other methods. The United States experienced an increase in losing money through tech scams from 6% in 2018 to 10% in 2021. Some victims would lose their entire life savings.

Canada experienced an increase in victims losing money to tech scams from 3% in 2018 to 6% in 2021. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported that scammers stole a minimum of $3 million from citizens in 2020 through a bank investor scheme.

However, compared to the rest of the world, scammers target residents in India the most. The victim rate is likely high due to customers in India being more trusting of unsolicited contact. From the same 2021 Microsoft survey, “47% [of Indian consumers] thought that it was very or somewhat likely that a company would contact them via an unsolicited call, pop-up, text message, ad or email.” This is a 15% increase from 2018.

The survey also reveals that scammers misled 48% of Indian consumers into continuing the scam. Millennials in India (aged 24-37) were the most at risk of falling victim to scams in 2021, resulting in 58% of targets losing money through scams. Around 73% of males were likely to lose money when interacting with scammers in contrast to 27% of women. Customers in 2021 lost 15,334 rupees on average, though 88% of those who lost money were able to recover 10,797 rupees on average.

Action to Combat Scam Call Centers

Police residing in multiple cities of India are combating scam call centers and their illegal practices through raids, arresting hundreds of people and seizing data. The Delhi Police raided a group in 2020 for allegedly defrauding more than 4,500 United States citizens, stealing upward of $14 million. Along with this, the Delhi Police’s cyber-crime unit raided more than 25 scam call centers within the same year.

In the Indian city of Gurugram between January and June 2021, police raided eight call centers. New Delhi police also arrested 65 people on July 28, 2021, seizing “58 computers, two laptops, internet routers and data found on electronic devices.”

Addressing Youth Unemployment

Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar said that India is dedicated to reducing youth unemployment rates in India, making efforts to “improve the bridge between unemployment and education.” This statement came “after the signing of a Statement of Intent between the Ministry and UNICEF” in June 2021. The partnership aims to empower the youth in India to gain the relevant skills and guidance for future legitimate job opportunities.

The National Career Service (NCS) provides “career counseling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship and internships” in order to address the youth unemployment rate in India. The Ministry and NCS are taking steps to combat lockdown-induced barriers in the job market, for example, by planning “online job fairs” and providing job seekers with links for remote job opportunities and online skills training.

Both UNICEF and Gangwar hope to make improvements in the next three years to help the youth secure brighter futures. By creating more legitimate job opportunities and making skills and education initiatives accessible to the impoverished, India can prevent youth from resorting to participating in scam call centers. As India recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty and unemployment reduce in the nation, it is likely that the prevalence of scam call centers will reduce too.

– Jerrett Phinney
Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Canada

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Canada
One can assess the full impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Canada as provinces begin to lift pandemic mandates. Canada felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic economically, with the National Advisory Council on Poverty noting unforeseen yet already developing consequences on national poverty levels.

The latest Canadian Income Survey from 2019 revealed the poverty rate at 10.1%, which saw the federal government spend upward of $72-$84 billion annually in tackling it. The impact of COVID-19 since then has only exacerbated poverty in Canada, with the disruptions to supply chains, market prices and job security that the global pandemic has caused.

Impact on Employment

Employment rates have continued to fluctuate throughout the pandemic after initially seeing an unprecedented 3 million Canadians (9%) lose their jobs, all of whom had been below the national average income. Employment rates steadily recovered as transmission rates dropped and Canadian provinces gradually lifted mandated measures. However, youth unemployment rates gradually increased and remain behind pre-pandemic levels.

Employment rates returned to pre-pandemic levels by fall 2021 while continuing to be volatile. The omicron variant surge saw the loss of 200,000 jobs, mainly in service and public sectors, which shows the lasting and developing COVID-19 impact has on job security. Regarding job security, the impact on employment COVID-19 has disproportionately affected service and public sector jobs. In contrast, the scientific and technical sectors have seen a growth in employment rates in the same period. This disproportionate, developing impact on lower-income workers could potentially exacerbate poverty rates in the coming years.

In response to the income insecurity and fluctuating employment rates, the Canadian federal government rolled out multiple economic assistance programs in the wake of COVID-19. The pandemic expanded unemployment insurance and provided wage subsidies. The largest and most widely available was the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Backed with a $100 billion fund, CERB was the largest economic assistance package in Canadian history since World War II. CERB provided unemployed Canadians with a $2,000 monthly stipend, two-thirds of monthly employment income for the average Canadian. CERB ended in December 2021, mitigating much of the impact that COVID-19 could have had on poverty. In the wake of CERB’s success, the British Columbia Expert Panel on Basic Income report recommended the permanent expansion of public-funded services similar to CERB. Continued public assistance can counter developing poverty while employment rates fluctuate as the pandemic slowly ends.

Rising Food Prices & Cost of Living

Food prices drastically increased in Canada throughout the pandemic due to the supply chain shortages the global disruption COVID-19 is causing. As a result, grocery prices increased by 5.7% in 2021, the biggest annual gain since 2011. The 2022 Canada’s Food Price Report annual report from the Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph projects that 2022 will see “the highest increase [in food prices] that we’re predicting in 12 years, both in terms of dollars and percentage.” Here are some predictions for where food prices could go by 2022 according to Canada’s Food Price Report.

“ Type of Food       Expected Price increase in 2022

Restaurants        6-8%

Dairy                       6-8%

Baked Goods      5-7%

Vegetables          5-7%

Fruits                     3-5%

Other                     2-4%

Seafood                0-2%”

How Increasing Food Prices is Impacting the Impoverished

The growing price of food has impacted lower-income populations in Canada, with the number of food bank visits increasing by more than 20% in the first four months of the pandemic. An Ottawa resident stated that “I can’t afford to go to the grocery store to buy fruit.” In addition, inflating food prices are growing, affecting middle-income populations. An Ontario resident told the CBC that “People that didn’t even talk about high food costs before are now struggling with it, too.” A recent survey response stated that Canadians have changed their food consumption habits, including relying on coupons, cutting out restaurants and switching to more affordable diets.

COVID-19’s impact on food prices in Canada will continue to develop from 2022 onwards and will disproportionately affect lower-income populations, potentially exacerbating poverty rates. In anticipation, the federal government established the Emergency Food Security Fund in April 2020 to “help improve access to food for people experiencing food insecurity in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” investing $100 million into Canadian food banks and other similar organizations. The government invested more money into the fund throughout the pandemic, adding a further $100 million in August 2021 and $30 million in December 2021. Matching investments into food banks and other similar programs to the rate of food prices’ inflation projected by the 2020 Canada Food Price Report will be key to countering the long-term impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Canada.

Tackling the Future

While COVID-19 has impacted job and food security for those living in poverty in Canada, the worst of its burnt has passed as provinces lift restrictions. The impact of the pandemic has seen valuable lessons gained in the present and future battle against systemic poverty. The 2021 report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty identified the root of COVID-19’s exacerbation of Canadian poverty lay in preexisting structural issues that discriminate against lower-income workers, Indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and women. This recognition shows that the impact of COVID-19 on poverty has resulted in a new commitment to the inclusion of this holistic structural approach in tackling poverty post-pandemic, boding well for the future of Canadian public policy.

– Majeed Malhas
Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Thailand

The impact of COVID-19 on poverty in ThailandThe second country, after China, to report a COVID-19 case, Thailand has experienced tumultuous economic and social fluctuations following the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020. Thailand was particularly impacted in late 2020 and early 2021, during which the nation suffered from high unemployment rates, reduced incomes and increased food insecurity. Consequently, the pandemic plunged an estimated 800,000 people into poverty in Thailand.

Exacerbated Economic Ramifications

At a glance, Thailand’s GDP fell by 6.1% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thailand saw an eight-point decline in unemployment in urban areas and based on a 2020 World Bank survey, 50% of respondents reported that the pandemic negatively affected their jobs. Similarly, 70% of respondents reported a decline in household income, with the pandemic hitting rural, low-income households the hardest.

The country’s tourism sector, accounting for 20% of nationwide employment and a fifth of the nation’s GDP, faced stagnant tourism flows amid travel bans. Consequently, Thailand’s tourism slowdown significantly affected low-skilled workers, particularly women and children, in the tourism industry.

Government Initiatives Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

In light of pandemic adversities, the Thai government responded swiftly to mitigate the crisis. A policy package, consisting of a fiscal stimulus equivalent to 10% of GDP helped the nation avoid an economic and social crisis. The World Bank reported that 780,000 additional people would have fallen into poverty without the Thai government’s introduction of financial packages.

The government’s “No One Left Behind” program in 2020 also helped mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Thailand; the government provided 80% of farming households with monthly cash transfers. In addition, the introduction of a farmers’ assistance program reached 63% of the government’s target audience.

The Current Status of Poverty Levels in Thailand

Thailand’s road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic remains promising. The  unemployment rate declined by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2022 and estimates indicate that poverty levels should decline to the country’s pre-pandemic levels. Overall, the country’s economy is projected to expand by 2.9% by the end of 2022. Notably, more than 57.3 million people, more than 80% of Thailand’s overall population, have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nonetheless, while Thailand’s economic and social sectors have improved since 2020, the nation is still facing the impacts of COVID-19 on poverty in Thailand. According to the World Bank, Thai households’ average labor income has declined while household debt has increased by 25%, resulting in increased loans to support lifestyles.

Future Undertakings

Thailand is continuing to increase its vaccination rates and boost its tourism sector to revitalize its economy. As of October 1, 2022, the Tourism of Authority of Thailand has lifted Thailand’s border restrictions, allowing travelers to visit Thailand without proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Additionally, in August 2022, the Thai government extended the previously 30-day tourist stay in Thailand to 45 days.

Amid Thailand’s reintroduction of tourism, future poverty levels remain elusive. Granting visitors extended stay without proof of a COVID-19 test could potentially bring a new wave of cases to the nation. Nonetheless, Thailand’s revitalized tourism sector will surely help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on poverty in Thailand. Hopefully, increased tourism will reinvigorate Thailand’s slow economy, declining poverty levels and boosting household income for good.

– Emma He
Photo: Unsplash