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Los Angeles Wildfires: A Wake-up Call For Re/Insurers
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Disaster Recovery: Rebuilding Turkiye with resilience
Shaken by a series of devastating earthquakes,Türkiye has...
Panic to paranoia: One year on, mental health crisis still unfolding across India
“Unless mental health is treated as a core element in our response to the pandemic, the long term social and economic costs will be severe,” Vikram Thaploo, CEO of Apollo TeleHealth in Hyderabad. noted.Of the 3,000 odd mental health consultations over the past year till February 2021, about 65 per cent related to anxiety and depression and most people were in their 20s and 30s.
Companies need to prepare for more political disturbances and violence ahead: Allianz
Causing physical damage, business interruption or loss of revenues, civil unrest incidents are becoming a more significant risk for companies in the current environment, as reflected in the findings of the Allianz Risk Barometer 2021.”Civil unrest has soared, driven by protests on issues ranging from economic hardship to police brutality which have affected citizens around the world. And the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is making things worse – with little sign of an end to the economic downturn in sight, the number of protests is likely to continue climbing.”
Women ‘systematically excluded’ from COVID response, despite being worst affected
The data reveals that of 225 COVID-19 task forces up and running across 137 countries, only 24 per cent of members were women.
“Women have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response…however, they have been systematically excluded from the decision-making processes on how to address the impacts of the pandemic”, said UNDP chief Achim Steiner
Prepare for the next pandemic, says WHO scientist
“We’ve seen time and time again that products developed in high income countries take decades to find their way to low income countries. This has happened with influenza pandemics, with HIV, and with hepatitis B vaccines.
It took 30 years for hepatitis B vaccines to get to developing countries and that’s exactly the reason why COVAX [the UN-led scheme to distribute two billion COVID-19 vaccines to mostly poorer countries] was set up, to make sure that as vaccines get developed, that there’s also equity in access.
Swiss Re announces ambitious climate targets; accelerates race to net zero
Swiss Re’s Group Chief Executive Officer Christian Mumenthaler said: “Climate change remains the biggest challenge we face as a society. The stakes are high and require immediate attention. Signing up to net-zero emissions by 2050 and setting concrete climate targets are important first steps. What needs to follow now is action. We are moving ahead in all areas of our business to accelerate the transition towards net zero.“
10 Years After Nuclear Disaster, How Dangerous Is the Fukushima Plant?
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., says the tsunami couldn’t have been anticipated, but reports from government and independent investigations and recent court decisions described the disaster at the plant as human-made and a result of safety negligence, lax oversight by regulators and collusion.
India uses digital banking and biometrics to organize its 1.3 billion population
The digital network is now the lynchpin for most of India’s social security and cash transfer programs — which had been notorious for corruption and unreliability. Today, the government uses JAM’s direct benefit transfers for 317 programs. It made 2.6 billion transactions in the current financial year, getting more than $46 billion to beneficiaries. The cumulative value of the transfers since the first programs started in 2013 stands at more than $195 billion.
Brazil’s COVID Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say
No other nation that experienced such a major outbreak is still grappling with record-setting death tolls and a health care system on the brink of collapse. Many other hard-hit nations are, instead, taking tentative steps toward a semblance of normalcy.
GIFT City: Modi’s plan to make a Singapore in Gujarat has fallen flat
In hosting an international financial center, Singapore stole a march over rival Hong Kong, where the bankers were initially against more competition. But it wasn’t tall buildings that made the experiment a success. A freely convertible currency, pragmatic regulation, a stable tax regime, rule of law and speedy dispute resolution played a huge role. (Good schools and pubs helped, too.)
Covid-19 Pandemic:Tracking an Unprecedented Year for Businesses
Nearly every business in the world has been affected by COVID-19—in different ways. While one-fourth of the companies saw sales falling 50 percent in the last quarter, a third of firms said their sales increased or stayed the same in the period.
To capture the impact of the pandemic on firms’ performance, the World Bank launched ongoing surveys with more than 120,000 firms in over 60 countries. The assessment is expected to help inform recovery efforts.
Developing countries have introduced multiple support programs, but businesses most affected by the shock—small firms and those in poorer countries—were the least likely to receive government support.
Crises are nothing new to small enterprises in developing countries.