UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock calls for "swift and determined action" to avoid the most destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang
UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nation's humanitarian chief on Thursday said that he was greatly concerned about the "spillover effects" of the COVID-19 pandemic on the poorest countries where the pandemic peak's is set to arrive in three to six months.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock has called for "swift and determined action" to avoid the most destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He released a 6.7 billion U.S. dollars appeal and an updated global plan to fight coronavirus in fragile countries, which is the second gigantic UN response plan following the 2 billion U.S. dollars global humanitarian response plan on March 25 to fight COVID-19 in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.
"One of the consequences of having such a big economic contraction and such big growth in hunger and all the associated diseases that go with it is that you tend to get instability and social unrest in lots of countries and that can spill over from one country to another," Lowcock told Xinhua in a virtual interview.
A military officer arranges bags of maize flour during the relief food distribution in Kampala, capital of Uganda, April 4, 2020. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua)
The UN humanitarian chief warned that extremist and terrorist groups might seize the chance to "occupy land" and create other chaos.
"We know from past experience that the best and cheapest way to respond to those kinds of problems is quickly and generously. Otherwise, things will get out of control," said the UN humanitarian chief.
"They last longer, and it's harder to deal with them," he said, adding that the updated response plan needs a lot of money.
COVID-19 has now reached every country, with nearly 3,596,000 confirmed cases and over 247,650 deaths worldwide.
"The peak of the disease in the world's poorest countries is not expected until some point over the next three to six months. However, there is already evidence of incomes plummeting and jobs disappearing, food supplies falling and prices soaring, and children missing vaccinations and meals," it said.
Noting that the most devastating and destabilizing impacts of the pandemic will be felt in the world's poorest countries, Lowcock said that these countries face "a double whammy," namely, the direct health impact and the impact of the global recession and the domestic measures taken to contain the virus.
A fruit seller waits for customers in Sanaa, Yemen, May 7, 2020. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)
"We must be prepared for a rise in conflict, hunger, poverty and disease as economies contract, export earnings, remittances and tourism disappear, and health systems are put under strain," he said.
"This pandemic is unlike anything we have dealt with in our lifetime. Business as usual will not do. Extraordinary measures are needed. As we come together to combat this virus, I urge donors to act in both solidarity and in self-interest and make their response proportionate to the scale of the problem we face," he said.
Lowcock said that there are humanitarian operations in about 50 countries already and spoke highly of the great devotions of aid workers.
"The aid workers are willing to put their lives at risk by going to these places and working to save other people," he said.
However, he said humanitarian operations are facing "big challenges" in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
"So, we are setting up a number of field hospitals and special facilities for aid workers to make it possible for them realistically to do the important work they do," the UN humanitarian chief noted. ■
