by Martha Reilly, Global Research Institute at W&M | May 6, 2021
As the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the world last spring, many nations enacted similar lockdown policies intended to restrict movement and halt transmission yet some countries fared far better than others.
Newly published research, led by William & Mary undergraduate Morgan Pincombe ‘21, analyzes public health disparities among 113 countries in the wake of the pandemic. The findings indicate that failure to account for different economic realities led to contextually inappropriate policy responses that “may exacerbate poverty and cause unnecessary death.”
The study involved an analysis of mobility, morbidity, and mortality growth rates across the World Bank’s income group classifications, which revealed that a one-size-fits-all approach to public health policy can have detrimental consequences for low-income countries.
Photo - of - by Alex Wooley, AidData | December 14, 2020
Despite much talk about the need for deep and equitable partnerships between organizations in the Global North and Global South, extensive technical collaboration between such organizations is rare.
With the support of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, AidData is working to overcome this challenge by investing in several new research partnerships with leading organizations on the African continent. The ultimate aim is for data and evidence to be incorporated into the public-sector decision-making across sectors and at multiple levels of government starting in Ghana.
A new $600,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation will help AidData “bolster its engagement with policy makers, influencers, and researchers in Africa.”