Committees

Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts

Inquiry

Report and Government response published

Within its report, the IDC warned the secondary impacts – ranging from non-covid healthcare to hunger, and crippling international debt to gender quality – could be more severe than the virus itself to countries in the Global South. The IDC found widespread disruptions to routine vaccination programmes, rising unemployment leading to fears of accessing food and lockdowns resulting in increased gender-based violence.  Given the scale of the secondary impacts of covid-19 to many of the world’s most vulnerable, the IDC was disappointed that the Government rejected its recommendation to publish a covid-19 strategy, suggesting that existing policy documents such as the Integrated Review covers these issues.

The Government also dismissed the necessity for a cross-departmental, multi-year Global Health Strategy, despite the IDC hearing evidence that 70% of countries reported that their routine immunisation programmes were all stalling due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. During an evidence session last week, the IDC was told that hospitals in Yemen are being forced to prioritise patients more likely to survive illness in ICU due to the limited resources in being able to treat all those in need.

Although the IDC was encouraged to see that, within their response, the Government is open to reviewing debt cancellation of low-income countries, the IDC remains concerned as this would be considered on a case-by-case basis and in coordination with multilateral organisations.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Tuesday 24 November 2020
2:30pm Public
Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts - Oral evidence 24 November 2020
2:30pm
  • Gwen Hines (Executive Director of Global Programmes at Save the Children)
  • Jennifer Miquel (Head of UNFPA's Regional Syria Response Hub at UNFPA Jordan)
  • Lee Webster (Co-Chair at the Gender and Development Network & Deputy Director of International Development Policy and Practice at ActionAid UK)
3:30pm
  • Matthew Wyatt (Head of CHASE at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
  • Rachel Turner (Director, Economic Development at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
  • Darren Welch (Director of Policy (Delivery Office). at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
  • Wendy Morton (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas) at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
Virtual meeting
Tuesday 10 November 2020
2:30pm Public
Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts - Oral evidence 10 November 2020
2:30pm
  • Dr Graham MacKay (Chief Operating Officer at Bond)
  • Lamis Al-Iryani (Head of Monitoring and Evaluation at Social Fund for Development - Yemen)
  • Tim Jones (Head of Policy at Jubilee Debt Campaign)
3:30pm
  • Donal Brown (Associate Vice-President at International Fund for Agricultural Development)
  • Dr Louisa Cox (Director of Impact at Fairtrade Foundation)
  • Sultana Begum (Advocacy Manager Yemen at Norwegian Refugee Council)
Virtual meeting
Tuesday 13 October 2020
2:30pm Public
Oral evidence session 13 October 2020
Sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector: next steps - Oral evidence
2:30pm
  • Paisley Dodds (Investigations Editor at The New Humanitarian)
  • Philip Kleinfeld (Deputy Africa Editor at The New Humanitarian)
  • Nellie Peyton (West Africa Correspondent at Thomson Reuters Foundation)
  • Robert Flummerfelt
Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts - Oral evidence
3:30pm
  • Aaron Oxley (Executive Director at Results UK)
  • Katie Husselby (Coordinator at Action for Global Health)
  • Mike Podmore (Director at STOPAIDS)
Virtual meeting
Tuesday 15 September 2020
2:30pm Public
Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts - Oral evidence 15 September 2020
2:30pm
  • Professor Francesco Checchi OBE (Epidemiology and International Health at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Dr Timothy Russell (Research Fellow at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Professor Azra Ghani (Infectious Disease Epidemiology at School of Public Health, Imperial College)
3:30pm
  • Linh Schroeder (Deputy Regional Director for the Africa Region at International Committee of the Red Cross)
  • Selena Victor (Senior Director Policy and Advocacy at Mercy Corps)
  • Kate White (Medical Emergency Manager and Covid-19 medical technical lead at Medecins Sans Frontieres)
Virtual meeting

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We receive a significant number of emails each day. All requests and invitations are considered but we do not respond directly to everyone. Please be aware, the committee does not look at individual cases or specific complaints.

  • Email: indcom@parliament.uk
  • Address: International Development Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA