Integrated approaches to COVID-19 emergency response in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings: a public health policy brief.

In the absence of fully effective measures to prevent and treat COVID-19, the limited access to and hesitancy about vaccines, the prolongation of the on-going pandemic is likely. This underscores the need to continue to respond and maintain preparedness, preferably using a more sustainable approach. A sustainable management is particularly important in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries of sub-Saharan Africa given several peculiar challenges. This Viewpoint proposes policy options to guide transitioning from current COVID-19 emergency response interventions to longer-term and more sustainable responses in such settings. In the long term, a shift in policy from a vertical to a more effective approach should integrate response coordination, surveillance, case management, risk communication and operational support, among other elements, for better results. We call on public health policymakers, partners and donors to support full implementation of these policy options in a holistic manner to encompass all emerging public health threats.

From global to national scenarios: Exploring carbon emissions to 2050

The world is still following an unsustainable development pathway, facing great challenges in global CO2 emissions reduction in the coming decades. In this study, we used Kaya identity model to project CO2 emissions. We considered three main scenarios (business-as-usual, BAU;post-Copenhagen-Paris, PCP;deglobalization (COVID-19), DGC), which explored different pathways for CO2 emissions of fuel combustion to 2050 from global to national level. The results show that industrialized countries have been the largest contributors to global CO2 emissions, but some emerging economies are now among the top emitters in absolute terms. For countries at all stages of development, it's going to be important to reduce the trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions and boost resilience to mounting climate impacts. Among the global, regional, the United States and China CO2 emissions reduction scenarios, the PCP scenario is the best CO2 emissions reduction pathway, in this scenario global CO2 emissions will reach a peak by 2029 (31.813 Gt). Renewable energy leads the transition to a lower-carbon energy mix. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the largest-ever decline in global emissions. © 2022 The Authors