On World Health Day, amid an unprecedented global crisis, more than 100 organisations are calling for developing country debt to be cancelled to fight the Covid-19 health and economic crisis.

This briefing is provided to inform development of policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis and in support of calls from wider civil society for debt cancellations for the world’s poorest countries in the face of the current crisis. 

Este es el segundo de una serie de artículos sobre el brote de coronavirus y su impacto en América Latina. En el primer artículo exploramos los factores subyacentes de la emergencia sanitaria, incluyendo las políticas de austeridad y una mayor participación del sector privado a través de las asociaciones público-privadas (APP) en los servicios de salud.

Este es el primero de dos artículos que analizan cómo está afectando a los países de América Latina la epidemia de coronavirus. En este artículo, exploramos la naturaleza de los sistemas de salud de la región, incluida su dimensión de género, las recientes políticas de austeridad implementadas en varios países y los desafíos planteados por la mayor participación del sector privado en la atención sanitaria a través de, por ejemplo, las asociaciones público-privadas (APP).

This is the second in a series of articles on the outbreak of Covid-19 and the impact on Latin America. In the first article we explored the underlying factors of the health emergency, including the austerity policies and increased role of the private sector, through health public-private partnerships (PPPs).

In this article, we analyse how the Covid-19 outbreak is affecting Latin American countries and their ability to respond to the health emergency in an effective and equitable way.

This briefing provides an assessment of the costs and implications of an immediate debt moratorium for 69 countries classified as Lower Income Economies.

This is a guest blog on behalf of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) by Dr Hassan Sherry, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Economics, Lebanese American University

A report published today shows that rapidly rising and more expensive public debt is pitting the rights of creditors against those of the world’s poorest - and in particular women and girls - as countries devote up to 40 per cent of revenue to external debt service.

Public services play a critical role in advancing human rights and fighting inequality. However, growing levels of external public debt, especially in the global south, threaten the very services on which citizens depend in order to have even a basic standard of living.

Read the report in English, French and Spanish