Coronavirus

In November 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Sikhulile Moyo and Prof. Tulio de Oliveira discovered the omicron variant. Many Western countries reacted by putting in place harsh travel restrictions for Southern Africa. A Conversation with the winners of the German Africa Award 2022.

We are experiencing two very different pandemic realities between low-income and high-income countries. Unfortunately, instead of seeking a solidarity-based response, the international community has once again demonstrated its disunity in this health crisis. The task now is to regain credibility and rebuild trust.

The travel restrictions imposed by the European Union on people traveling from southern Africa after the discovery of the Omicron variant, will potentially have a long-term impact on the EU-AU relations.

When schools shut down, many students around the world were shut out, as their education systems were ill-prepared for online learning. The OECD’s 2018 PISA report revealed wide disparities between countries and socio-economic groups on the availability of adequate technology and schools’ capacity to use digital tools to enhance learning.

The Covid-19-related switch to online learning in German schools could exacerbate existing educational inequalities, due to wide variations in access and digital literacy at home.

Is data protection an obstacle to innovation? And is its easing in favor of digital educational opportunities inevitable? On the contrary!  

German schools have been slower to embrace digital education than US schools over the past decade, due to concerns about the influence of commercial players and data protection. The Covid-19 pandemic has now significantly increased reform pressure in Germany.

Schools in the United States have placed a lot of faith into the possibilities of education technology for improving both access and learning outcomes. But the pandemic has revealed that most technology is used to replicate traditional school routines.

Schools made a quick pivot to online teaching in spring 2020 as the pandemic sent kids home to learn. But educators soon faced a host of data sharing issues, as classrooms moved to platforms neither designed for education nor in compliance with privacy laws.

No country is safe from COVID-19 until all countries are safe from COVID-19. To state the obvious: To overcome a pandemic of this magnitude, vaccines must be made available quickly, cheaply, and fairly.

Aliyev’s popularity reached its peak during the war; the oppositional leaders stopped their criticism, while Aliyev’s actions were perceived as a just and victorious war. The active support of Turkey during the conflict inevitably led to the re-articulation and dynamic perception of Turkey as the “big brother”.

While the answer to when, and if, the post-COVID era will come remains uncertain, it is clear that sustainability is back in centre stage - no longer as the hip slogan of the 90s - but as a survival need.

In its fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, India is facing its greatest social and economic challenge since independence in 1947. Persisting political and social contradictions have become more visible than ever before.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of technology into our daily lives. This article series examines how digital technology affects innovation, inclusion, digital rights, and democracy in different countries.

Senegal is not spared the consequences of Covid-19. How does Covid-19 change the conditions under which food is produced and traded? We take a closer look at food systems in Africa talked to an expert on sustainable development issues in rural areas.

In the midst of a phase of new records of COVID19 infections and an epidemic that is completely out of control in large parts of the country, the new school year in the USA is gradually beginning. The political failure in dealing with the corona epidemic is having particularly dramatic social consequences here.

Mary Afan, president of the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON), talked to hbs about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small-scale farmers, government’s response and what could be done to help them weather the crisis.

"When we recover we must be better than before." This sentiment has been echoed frequently in the response to the Covid-19 crisis. It is a sign of hope and an invitation to utilise the crisis for progress.  Will this be a positive leap forward or a move in the wrong direction?

The Corona crisis demonstrated in fast motion the dilemma into which market-state-thinking leads. This is where commons come into play, i.e. what people do and are able to do with each other in a self-determined, self-organised, needs-oriented manner and without any marketing interest.

The way the Covid-19 pandemic has been dealt with has raised many questions for the future of the European project. How have the EU institutions and Member States managed the crisis so far? What challenges will coincide with the German EU Council Presidency in terms of crisis management and the future of the EU?