The World Bank Group says the Coronavirus disease has threatened hard-won gains in health and education over the past decade, especially in poor countries.
It made the disclosure in its ‘World Bank Group’s 2020 Human Capital Index’ distributed on Thursday by APO Group.
According to the group, investments in human capital, which include the knowledge, skill, and health that people accumulate in their lives, are key to unlocking a child’s potential and improving economic growth in every country.
The report includes health and education data for 174 countries, covering 98 per cent of the world’s population, up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children.
The analysis showed that, pre-pandemic, most countries made steady progress in building human capital, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
Despite this progress, and even before the effect of the pandemic, the report said that a child born in a typical country could expect to achieve just 56 per cent of their potential human capital, relative to a benchmark of complete education and full health.
World Bank Group President, David Malpass, said, “The pandemic puts at risk the decade’s progress in building human capital, including the improvement in health, survival rates, school enrolment and reduced stunting. The economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.
“Protecting and investing in people is vital as countries work to lay the foundation for sustainable, inclusive recoveries and future growth.”
The report disclosed that due to the pandemic’s impact, more than one billion children were out of school and could lose out, on average, half a year of schooling, adjusted for learning, translating into considerable monetary losses.
The data also showed significant disruptions to essential health services for women and children, with many children missing out on crucial vaccinations.
The 2020 Human Capital Index also presents a decade-long view of the evolution of human capital outcomes from 2010 through 2020, finding improvements across all regions, where data are available, and across all income levels.
The report noted that the World Bank Group was working with governments to develop long-term solutions to protect and invest in people during and after the pandemic:
“In Ethiopia, Haiti and Mongolia, the bank has been supporting the acquisition of vital medical equipment. In Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Nepal, it is supporting the development of school safety and hygiene protocols while working with Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene teams to provide basic sanitisation and hygiene supplies.
“In Jordan and Turkey, through recently approved new operations, the bank is supporting the development of television and digital content for blended teaching and learning for the new academic year, as well as psycho-social counselling and remedial courses.
“In the Sahel region, the bank is backing the Sahel Women’s Economic Empowerment and the Demographic Dividend project aimed at creating a favourable environment for women and girls’ empowerment through programmes to keep girls in school, and to expand economic opportunities and access to quality reproductive health services.”
The group added that ambitious, evidence-driven policy measures in health, education and social protection can recover lost ground and pave the way for today’s children to surpass the human capital achievements and quality of life of the generations that preceded them.
