Silencing the guns to tackle COVID-19

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	Cameroon, Philippines, Yemen
editor:	Bob Koigi

As the global attention solely focuses on the coronavirus pandemic, whose unprecedented impacts have bled global economies and turned the world upside down, the priority for countries is now focused on how to contain the spread and keep everyone safe.

Yet for millions of vulnerable populations stuck in conflict, it is survival of the fittest as they go largely ignored. From women, children, people with disabilities and refugees, the price is high as the disease now ravages every corner of the globe. In war-torn countries, the health systems are usually at their deathbed and medical workers, who are limited, are vulnerable as targets, which is why the recent decision by armed groups in Cameroon, the Philippines and Yemen to put down arms, embrace temporary peace and allow both medical and humanitarian assistance in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak is welcomed and timely.

Heeding to the UN ceasefire call, the armed groups reiterated that humanity was now confronting a bigger enemy that doesn’t discriminate against nationality, faction, colour or creed.

These countries have witnessed decades of war that has devastated their population. In Yemen, the conflict has created the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with over 100,000 deaths and 14 million people at risk of starvation and disease outbreak since the war broke out in 2015. The outbreak of COVID-19 has only complicated matters. While the ceasefire won’t in any way solve the longstanding conflict, it has not only allowed humanitarian intervention but given the parties to conflict food for thought on the bigger threat mankind faces and the need to forge a united agenda to defeat a common enemy.

The onus is now on other armed groups from Ukraine, Syria, Libya and Somalia to put the interests of their people first. These are extraordinary times which call for extreme measures. Defiance will only mean that there won’t be people or a cause to fight for if the pandemic wipes the very same people the armed groups are representing. The world now more than ever should hear the plea of the vulnerable; those trapped in conflict and in the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres “This is crucial, to help create corridors for life-saving aid. To open precious windows for diplomacy. To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

Image by n Michal Renčo

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