Thank you to the African Union for hosting such a timely event and to President Macky Sall for the invitation to join. My remarks are mostly devoted to infrastructure but let me recognize upfront the multiple challenges you are facing with high food and fertilizer prices, with growing insecurity in the Sahel and with conflicts […]
DUSHANBE, February 11, 2023 – A new water supply system in Vose district of southern Tajikistan, supported by the World Bank, was launched today connecting 40,000 residents of 14 rural villages to safely managed water supply services. The “Chilla” water supply facility was inaugurated by visiting World Bank Regional Director for Sustainable Development at the Europe and Central […]
It is time for the global community to get back on track with its health care goals. The COVID-19 pandemic diverted many positive steps that the world was taking towards universal health coverage. It revealed weaknesses in global health systems: Supply chains faltered and access to new vaccines and needed advanced medical equipment was limited. […]
Did you know that Cluj-Napoca is one of the first cities – not just in Romania or Europe, but in the entire world – to initiate the adoption of a NetZeroCity Action Plan? The NetZeroCity Action Plan is a blueprint for making the transition to climate neutrality by 2030 , along with details on needed resources to […]
During a visit to Kananga, capital of the Kasai-Central province of the DRC, we had an opportunity to see the compounding effects of fragility and conflict intersecting with climate change up close – this was dramatically illustrated by deep mega-erosions, damaged road infrastructure, and washed away homes and productive land. Kananga, a city of over […]
A holistic disaster risk management approach starts with a change in the way we refer to disasters The phrase ‘natural disaster’ is used in the news, in social media, and in everyday conversations to describe extreme events like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or volcanoes. But the term is problematic – if not harmful. Disasters are not […]
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive response to widespread flooding that has affected seven of the country’s nine provinces. Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape have been most affected by the floods, which were brought on by heavy rainfall as a result of the La Nina […]
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting […]
World Statistics Day reminds us that to ensure social and economic growth, support for data-backed policymaking is needed. The economic transformation of developing countries in Asia over the past few generations has been well documented. From a share of 4% of global GDP in 1960 to almost 35% in 2019, the region’s economic growth has […]
With mega trade deals and digitalization, we need to rethink aid for trade with more focus on policy and regulatory support. Aid for trade is based on the idea that trade can be a powerful engine for economic development. It targets trade-related programs and projects – including infrastructure, training and regulatory reform – to help […]
