mercoledì 16 febbraio 2022

A possible essay plan on the Covid-19 pandemic

‘What are the main features and consequences of the current health crisis, what has been our response to it and what lessons should the international community draw from it?’

Introduction: Start with a reference to a recent event or statement of importance relating to the question. For example:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/ten-covid19-lessons-from-the-pandemic-ipsos/

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2022/02/08/who-covid-treaty-pandemic-preparedness/6686628001/

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/01/25/covid-19-council-adopts-new-person-based-recommendation-on-free-movement-restrictions/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/covid19-top-news-omicron-coronavirus-8-february-2022/

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-rewrites-covid-plan-2022-2021-12-17/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/3-keys-to-a-resilient-post-pandemic-recovery/

Line of argument: this essay will argue first that the current pandemic has shown that the world was poorly prepared for such an event, though there had been warnings from the WHO and other authoritative bodies. So there is a lesson for the world community to learn. Moreover, this crisis has demonstrated the need for international cooperation in dealing effectively with a major shared challenge, from sharing data to policy development, to public/private collaboration to research and produce not one but a series of possible vaccines and treatments. Hopefully, this will encourage states to be more aware of the need to work together and more willing to cooperate in other fields, such as dealing with migration and climate change.

Give a brief outline of the nature, evolution, spread, scale of the pandemic in its first phase and the lack of preparedness, focusing on Italy and Europe and providing a few facts and figures and a timeline. By looking at the first wave explain why the Italian government decided to impose a national lockdown

The economic and social impact, consequences and costs of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown, globally and in Italy and the EU, using a few figures and estimates from Italian institutions (e.g. the Bank of Italy), EU institutions and international organizations like the WTO, WB etc… / the acceleration of society’s transition to using more IT and smart working / impact on developing world and SDGs – see links below.

https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/relazione-annuale/2020/sintesi/index.html?com.dotmarketing.htmlpage.language=1

The summer of 2020 and then the second wave in autumn / the change of strategy and the rationale for that strategy / the development of a vaccine /2021/the current situation and strategy in 2022 / lessons to be learnt from all of this, public transparency, decision-making, inequalities, successes and failures.

The EU recovery plan – NextGenerationEU, and the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)

https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/relazione-annuale/2020/sintesi/index.html?com.dotmarketing.htmlpage.language=1

https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Nazionale_di_Ripresa_e_Resilienza

https://www.mef.gov.it/en/focus/The-National-Recovery-and-Resilience-Plan-NRRP/

and current economic outlook

https://www.bancaditalia.it/media/notizia/economic-bulletin-no-1-2022/

Argue that the NextGenerationEU plan could be a model for and a first step towards greater international cooperation and EU integration.

Conclusion: Thus, given what we have said above, it seems clear that when necessary, and sufficiently scared and motivated, both the international community and the EU are capable of moving from purely national strategies to a collective one involving rapid developments in terms greater and more effective cooperation. The real lesson is that we need to move from cooperation on a mainly ad hoc basis towards a permanent framework for a collaborative approach to global challenges. And we need truly global strategies, not strategies geared purely to the needs and capabilities of developed economies.

Maybe finish with another reference to a recent event or statement of importance related to the topic. For example, on a positive note:

https://www.un.org/africarenewal/news/coronavirus/covid-19-lessons-offer-hope-global-efforts-address-climate-change-impacts

The extremely negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the SDGs (obviously, much less optimistic)

 

https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/

https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3

https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4

https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/un-desa-policy-brief-81-impact-of-covid-19-on-sdg-progress-a-statistical-perspective/

https://sdg.iisd.org/news/sdgs-report-2021-covid-19-lead-to-first-rise-in-extreme-poverty-in-a-generation/

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/goal-of-the-month/

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2022/01/25/world-economic-outlook-update-january-2022

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2020/10/21/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-global-extreme-poverty/

https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_framework_report_on_covid-19.pdf

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1077542

https://news.un.org/en/news/topic/sdgs

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/italy-readies-small-pandemic-aid-package-without-extra-deficit

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