Protecting the Caribbean’s most vulnerable people in face of COVID-19: A UN Resident Coordinator blog

(United Nations News) The United Nations is working closely with governments in the Caribbean to protect the region’s most vulnerable people from the impact of the deadly coronavirus, COVID-19. For this latest in our occasional series, Didier Trebucq, United Nations Resident Coordinator to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, explains what action they are taking in that region.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most urgent health, economic, and social crises the world has faced in decades. At the beginning of April, more than 870,000 cases and over 43,000 deaths have been reported worldwide. According to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the number of cases in the Americas region is steadily rising.

The Caribbean is also staggering in the wake of COVID-19, which has already dealt a devastating blow to the tourism and service sectors across the region, adversely impacting the mainly small and open economies.
As regional governments move to stem the tide of this pandemic and counter its short- and long-term impact across critical sectors, a multi-sectoral response is needed to meet immediate health emergency care and response needs, while ensuring that a social safety net is created to support people whose income may drastically reduce during this crisis, and to protect the rights of the most vulnerable citizens.

This multi-faceted approach would seek mitigating shocks and support recovery efforts from a crisis that may exacerbate existing inequalities and result in losing past years’ gains towards the achievement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Read more at: United Nations News

Source: CARICOM TODAY