ECLAC COVID-19 Reports
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The ECLAC COVID-19 reports are a collection of sectoral briefings on the impacts and challenges of the current coronavirus pandemic in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
In this second joint report the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) provide an update on the evolution of the pandemic and its implications for health society and the economy; define potential scenarios for control and evolution in the short term; and further elaborate on the recommended long-term lines of action to strengthen the State’s capacity to respond to the population’s health needs and their determinants in the context of a transformative recovery.
The health and economic crisis like no other in the past 100 years that has been caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has thrown socioeconomic inequalities and unequal access to health and social protection services into even sharper relief. It has also posed socioeconomic challenges that expose the most vulnerable groups in the population to even more severe risks and adversities than they were already facing. One of the most vulnerable groups is older persons whose quality of life and rights are being directly impacted by the pandemic. Scientific evidence on the evolution of the pandemic and risk factors associated with COVID-19 have shown that people of any age can contract the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However older persons have a higher probability of severe symptoms complications and death especially those aged 80 or over. In addition studies show that pre-existing chronic or degenerative conditions are also risk factors associated with a higher probability of severe illness and death as a result of COVID-19 and it is well known that those comorbidities are more frequent among older persons. Hence the importance of protecting the rights of older persons during this health crisis for which efforts must be made on two fronts. First the right to health which must be for all without age-based discrimination. Second the right to life and the right to a dignified old age until the end of one’s days.
This document examines the situation of persons with disabilities in terms of the impact that COVID-19 (coronavirus) could have taking into consideration age and sex health conditions types of disability access to basic infrastructure overcrowding in the home access to information and communications technology (ICT) employment status and education. In conclusion the report presents some national actions that have been taken to reduce the impact of the pandemic and recommendations for addressing the devastating social and economic effects of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities.
This document examines the exacerbation of risks and the erosion of protection factors relating to physical psychological and sexual violence in the home experienced by adolescents and children especially girls within the context of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in the region. It also provides recommendations on the integration of concrete actions into the response mechanisms developed by Latin American and Caribbean States to address the COVID-19 crisis.
In the context of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is preparing a series of short publications with key policy recommendations for this period. This note the third on household surveys offers some considerations regarding the continuity of this type of statistical instrument in a context of initial lifting of the restrictions on movement in the region that were put in place to contain the spread of the pandemic.
In terms of migration the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has come at a time already characterized by involuntary migration and growing intraregional movements resulting in a migrant population estimated at more than 40 million. This situation has been marked by increased emigration from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela a new migration route from Haiti to South America and various vulnerabilities associated with the route that crosses Central America Mexico and the United States. During a pandemic the vulnerabilities that pervade the migration cycle are heightened such as the risks of job losses; declines in paid domestic employment for women; overrepresentation of migrant workers in front-line jobs; indefinite detention; a lack of prompt access to documentation needed for health care; poor housing conditions; and stigmatization of returnees in their communities of origin especially when returning from the United States. The pandemic poses specific migration governance challenges in the region in terms of the range of unresolved situations for migrants. These relate not only to the humanitarian social and economic spheres that significantly affect women but also to health and habitability issues.
COVID-19 (coronavirus) is exposing social inequalities of all kinds in the world and the region as well as the overrepresentation of Afrodescendants among the group living in poverty who are employed in informal and caregiving jobs. As Afrodescendants have worse indicators of well-being than their non-Afrodescendent peers they are seen as one of the groups most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of both infection and mortality. Accordingly this document analyses the specific situation of Afrodescendent populations and the effects that COVID-19 might be having on them based on up-to-date empirical dataand an ethnic/racial generational territorial rights-based and gender approach.
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has upended the global and United States economies exacting a large human toll and shutting down major economic sectors. While there is significant uncertainty about United States economic growth prospects the impact of the pandemic is severe. The record-long United States economic expansion came to an end as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with forecasts of a deep recession in 2020. The outlook remains highly uncertain as it is difficult to gauge the social and economic impact of the pandemic which will depend on the success of containing the outbreak and the measures to restart economic activity. The economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been substantial and immediate. Three stimulus packages were approved by the United States Congress in March to address the impact on households and businesses. New legislation was also approved in April and June to improve the effectiveness of the programmes included in the previous three fiscal packages. The United States Federal Reserve cut interest rates to the zero lower bound offered unlimited quantitative easing and deployed old and new policy tools aimed at keeping financial markets functioning.
In the context of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is preparing a series of short publications with relevant policy recommendations for this period. This note includes several recommendations for the continued collection of information linked to national accounts balance-of-payments and foreign trade statistics.
Air pollution represents a major environmental health hazard. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is responsible for 300000 deaths every year in the Americas and 9 in every 10 people are breathing polluted air at this very moment. The air pollutants that are most harmful to human and environmental health are coarse particulate matter (PM10) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The concentrations of these pollutants in city air are then determined by the environmental conditions prevailing in each case. As multiple factors are in play it is impossible to attribute any reduction in concentrations exclusively to the activity restrictions and quarantines imposed to deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic. The measures adopted by the region’s national or local governments to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic include quarantines lockdown orders and the reduction or cessation of economic activities which have impacted production levels and human mobility. As there is also anecdotal evidence that air quality has improved this document presents the results of a statistical investigation into the concentrations of these three key pollutants in selected cities3 of the region that are home to about 14% of Latin America’s urban population: Bogotá Lima Mexico City Monterrey (Mexico) Quito Santiago and São Paulo (Brazil) to determine whether the measures deployed have in fact contributed to better air quality.
Tourism in the region has come to a temporary standstill beginning in April 2020 as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This paralysis has not only hit Caribbean economies and employment hard but also many local communities in Latin America. In this brief the contribution of tourism to exports gross domestic product (GDP) and employment is reviewed together with the recent downturn in this activity in the region. An impact scenario shows that the slump in tourism may cause total GDP growth in the Caribbean and Latin America to fall by 8 percentage points and 1 percentage point respectively while total employment could potentially decline by 9 percentage points in the Caribbean and 2 percentage point in Latin America. As countries have taken measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis on tourism recommendations are provided to step up the sector’s preparation for the economic recovery while enhancing diversification as well as environmental and social sustainability.
In the context of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is preparing a series of short publications with relevant policy recommendations. A number of recommendations are made in this note to address bias problems that may arise in household surveys carried out during this exceptional period as a complement to the suggestions made in a previous note on the sample designs for this type of survey.
Latin America and the Caribbean is highly dependent on imports of medical products as less than 4% of these are sourced within the region itself. To date more than 70 countries —including four of the region’s top five suppliers of which the first is the United States— have restricted their medical exports in response to COVID-19. Export restrictions are hampering the supply of products essential for fighting the pandemic in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean should make it a strategic objective to strengthen its productive capabilities in the pharmaceutical and medical supplies and equipment industries in order to gain a less vulnerable footing to face health crises in the future. This will require the combined efforts of the public sector business and academia in a mission-oriented industrial policy framework. Several of the region’s countries have made worthwhile efforts in that direction which must be sustained beyond the current pandemic.
In the context of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is preparing a series of short publications with relevant policy recommendations for this period. This note makes several recommendations for the continued collection of price information from which the consumer price index (CPI) is calculated.
In the context of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is preparing a series of short publications with relevant policy recommendations for this period. This note offers a number of recommendations to address the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities in the region.
In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic ECLAC is preparing a series of short publications with relevant policy recommendations. A number of recommendations are made in this note on gathering labour market information through household surveys paying particular attention to the sample designs required for this purpose.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought to light in an unprecedented way the importance of care for the sustainability of life and the low visibility of this sector in the economies of the region where it is still considered an externality and not a fundamental component of development. The ongoing health crisis highlights the unfair social organization of care work in Latin America and the Caribbean. There is an urgent need to consider responses to care needs from a gender perspective since as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has repeatedly demonstrated it is women who whether paid or unpaid bear the greatest caregiving burden.