BBC News: Africa ‘needs $1.2tn’ to recover coronavirus losses
“The economic damage as well as the health costs caused by coronavirus has left Africa needing $1.2tn (£920bn) over the next three years, the International Monetary Fund has said. IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the world ‘must do more to support Africa to [recover] … from this crisis.’ Africa has had fewer Covid infections and deaths than most other continents. But the World Bank says 43 million more Africans are at risk of extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic…” (10/11).

Devex: Is World Bank fast-track COVID-19 funding reaching the most vulnerable?
“The World Bank’s efforts to move large amounts of funding quickly to help countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic have left some groups worried that marginalized populations might fall by the wayside when it comes to designing and implementing those projects. In April, the World Bank’s board of executive directors approved its first group of emergency support operations, part of a plan to mobilize $160 billion over the course of 15 months — by June 2021…” (Igoe, 10/12).

Coverage of how COVID-19-related economic downturns have impacted Malawi’s suicide rate is available from The Guardian.