The Middle East and North Africa population is more unprotected against the coronavirus

The coronavirus crisis continues to advance across the planet, leaving serious consequences. In addition to the number of deaths, which already exceeds 150,000 worldwide, the economic consequences of the virus are also being felt internationally, due to the measures of confinement and business closures that different governments are implementing to stop the spread of the pandemic. These prescriptions, although necessary, are more uphill in less developed countries and their populations face a double problem: lack of health resources on the one hand and economic suffocation on the other. Throughout this region the number of people affected by the coronavirus exceeds 100,000 and the number of deaths rises to almost 6,000 with Turkey and Iran as the main outbreaks.  

The new report, produced by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), shows that the regions of Western Asia and North Africa will be heavily affected by VID-19 due to the lack of basic health resources and hygiene that prevails in these regions. Such a simple and necessary act to minimize the risk of spreading the virus as washing your hands with soap several times a day becomes very difficult in countries in these areas since a large part of the population does not have basic hygiene facilities at home.   

In addition to the lack of toilets in many households, access to clean water is also scarce. Some 86 million people in these regions do not have such a resource at home, forcing women and girls (mainly) to move and obtain drinking water from public sources. These enforced departures, almost every day, increase the exposure and risk of contracting the virus for families who, as we mentioned earlier, do not have the means at home to wash and disinfect themselves when they return. 

Water is a fundamental good at all times, but in times of crisis like this, with a global pandemic, it is essential to ensure supplies to the population, especially in the most vulnerable areas of the planet. For this reason, ESCWA claims "it is urgent to ensure access to clean water and sanitation services to everyone everywhere". 

It has positively pointed out extraordinary measures taken by some governments that have withdrawn water fees from supplies at this time so that households in poverty have water available to them in order to minimize the risk of contagion. These are measures of solidarity, which are necessary and which, as reflected in his report, "should be emulated in all Arab countries". 

The report makes special mention of refugees and conflict areas where, it stresses, some 26 million people are at risk from lack of water and basic hygiene products. The Gaza Strip, the refugee camps in various parts of the world or conflict areas such as Syria, are some of the places where the lack of supplies is now becoming more lethal and dangerous. To avoid further problems, the ESCWA calls "access to water should not be used as a weapon of war,” and reiterates a call "for an immediate humanitarian truce"because of the coronavirus.  

UNICEF has warned that if action is not taken and governments work together, more than 4 million children in North Africa and the Middle East will be pushed into extreme poverty. To avert catastrophe, the organization is urging the international community to contribute $93 million. UN area economic experts estimate that this crisis will destroy more than 1.7 million jobs in these regions; this will result in increased poverty for 8 million people, about half of them children.  

The ESCWA data says that there are already about 100 million people in poverty in these areas, 25 million of whom, according to UNICEF, are children. With borders, airspace and most local businesses closed, UNICEF has worked closely with governments in vulnerable regions to distribute 1.6 million health kits to facilitate the fight against and protection from the coronavirus.  

They need to continue fighting and helping all actors (local and state) in these areas to ensure that the population has basic resources and to minimize the consequences of the coronavirus as much as possible. In order to continue working on the front line in each of these areas, UNICEF has launched a global appeal for 85 million euros.