Prioritise response for the vulnerable groups

Humanitarian organisation World Vision yesterday warned that unless the international community responds immediately and prioritises the world's most vulnerable in the fight against Covid-19,  the huge progress that has been made to save lives and reduce poverty over the past 30 years will be reversed.

"Children will bear the brunt of this and child mortality rates, which have more than halved since 1990, may start to increase again," the organisation said in a press release.

This stark warning came as the international aid agency launched the largest humanitarian response in its 70-year history to curb the impact of Covid-19 among 72 million people – half of them children.

 "We have never witnessed an emergency of this scale, impacting so many countries at once. For the first time in our history, we are shifting our focus in every single country to an emergency response, so we can support those who are most vulnerable to combat this deadly virus and its aftershocks," said World Vision International President and CEO, Andrew Morley.

The international child-focused aid agency is launching a US$ 350 million response that focuses on supporting the world's most vulnerable.

The ambitious response plan will be executed in over 70 countries where 37,000 staff, 400,000 faith leaders and 220,000 community health workers will be mobilised to support prevention and response initiatives.

The NGO warns that many low income countries are now entering the next phase of this pandemic, an extremely dangerous phase for the world's most vulnerable who are being forced to choose between risking exposure to the virus or starving during the lockdown.

It said this pandemic has already swept through the world's wealthiest countries, and now the world's most vulnerable children are on the front lines with very little to protect them.