Local Govt Forum

10 May 2020 Author: Belinda Townsend, ANU As of  10 May  over four million COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide, with 280,000 confirmed deaths. The pandemic has highlighted the need for strong national health systems and regional infectious disease monitoring. Rising global health tensions urge the need for governments to prioritise international mechanisms that promote affordable access to new treatments and vaccines. As China reports fewer cases of COVID-19, it is  seeking to portray  itself as a global health leader by supplying medical experts, equipment and resources overseas. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed China’s ambition for a ‘ Health Silk Road ’ with partner countries of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On  21 March  China sent 100,000 medical masks and 776 protective suits to Spain via existing BRI railway infrastructure. China’s Health Silk Road has its origins in a 2015  three-year plan  for health cooperation as ...

UN Population Fund sounds alarm over dire situation facing women and girls in Syria after 10 years of war  © UNICEF/Bakr Alkasem A girl holds a child in the hallway of a school-turned shelter in Tal Abyad of north Ar-Raqqa in Syria, as the conflict enters its 10th year.         16 March 2020 Women The UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, is expressing increasing concern about the women and girls trapped in Syria’s dire and escalating humanitarian crisis, especially in the north-west, where hostilities have caused mass displacement, human suffering and damage to civilian facilities.   Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the crisis, struggling to survive and care for traumatized children, as the conflict enters its 10th year, said the agency. Some 960,000 are estimated to have been displaced since December, 80 p...