Pacific aftershocks: unmasking the impact of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods in the Pacific and Timor-Leste
The aftershocks of COVID-19 – its impacts on livelihoods, hunger, and access to healthcare – are devastating communities in the Pacific and Timor-Leste as much as the virus itself, and sometimes to an even greater extent.
This report by World Vision Australia, an Australian Humanitarian Partnership consortium NGO, sheds light on these deep aftershocks and why a once-in-a-generation response is required.
World Vision surveyed 752 households in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu between July and December 2020 to gather first-hand accounts of the impacts of COVID-19 and its aftershocks on communities, families and their children. The findings highlight the human cost of the severe economic recession that has befallen the broader Pacific region since the pandemic, laying bare the region’s vulnerability to future shocks, stresses, and uncertainties.