Number 50 | 2021

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | KATOWICE, Poland (IDN) — Ensuring the protection of human rights and social and economic inclusion in the digital age was front and centre at the five-day discussions. These concluded in Katowice, Poland, on December 10 with a call to urgently connect the 2.9 billion people who still cannot access the Internet and to make the global network an open, free and safe space where everyone’s human rights and basic freedoms are respected.

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — The global pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage, according to two complementary reports compiled by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The organizations also reveal in two reports launched on Universal Health Coverage Day that more than half a billion people are being pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.

By UNDP

SAL | Cabo Verde (IDN) — Cabo Verde President José Maria Neves on December 2 joined the development community in calling for urgent universal vaccine access as a way to mitigate the impact of Omicron and other variants of the Covid-19 virus.

The World Health Organization on December 3 categorized Omicron as a Covid-19 “variant of concern”, signifying that it could be more contagious than other known mutations.