Governments are putting women and girls at greater risk of the health and socio-economic impacts posed by the coronavirus pandemic, two global studies released Wednesday show. They called on leaders to prioritise gender equity in their response to the health crisis. Two studies, one from a global research partnership led by the Global Health 50/50 Project in London and another by the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, were released Wednesday to coincide with World Health Day that highlight major failings by national governments to consider sex or gender in their COVID-19 policies. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, several studies have pointed to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women. Many women have shouldered a heftier burden taking on more unpa...
A former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, has hailed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his plan to repeal the Lagos State law that would ensure life pensions for former governors and deputy governors. The All Progressives Congress chieftain said this in a series of tweets on Wednesday. The former governor tweeted, “Congratulations to Governor Sanwo-Olu over the 2021 budget which he appropriately christened ‘Budget of Rekindled Hope’. This audacious and enterprising budget will empower our people and begin to rebuild Lagos State. “In particular, I would also like to commend the governor for the plan to commence the repeal of the pension law giving pension packages to former governors and their deputies. This is a bold and courageous move by Mr. Governor and I wholeheartedly support him. ...
In a paper titled “The Pandemic’s Toll on Women and Girls,” Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, has tasked global leaders and policymakers on the protection of women and girls in the fight against the coronavirus. Gates said that to recover fully from this pandemic, leaders must respond to the ways that it is affecting men and women differently. In the paper, she puts forward a set of specific, practical policy recommendations that governments should consider in their pandemic response—to improve health systems for women and girls, design more inclusive economic policies, gather better data, and prioritize women’s leadership. Writing in the paper, Gates described how previous disease outbreaks, including AIDS and Ebola, tend to exploit existing forces of ine...