AHDR: Arab States Succeeded in Bringing Pandemic Outbreak under Control

The majority of Arab world governments managed to control the pandemic rapidly and effectively displaying an average recovery rate that was significantly higher than the global average, according to UN's Arab Human Development Report 2022 (AHDR).

In this report that was issued this week, the UNDP experts said that Gulf Cooperation Council succeeded in bringing the pandemic outbreak under control.

While, the middle-income countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia were relatively successful in handling the first wave of the outbreak but loosened their control afterward, the Arab Human Development Report noted.

Arab countries in crises had limited capacity to mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of Covid-19 outbreaks because of the destruction of their health infrastructure, displacement or migration of medical staff and healthcare workers, breakdown of social relations, and accumulating economic challenges.

"During Covid outbreak, limited trust in government institutions was reflected in a pushback against the pandemic containment measures and high rates of vaccine hesitancy, a trend observed across different regions globally," the UNDP experts said.

The report also mentioned that some governments expanded their executive powers through emergency regulations to respond to Covid-19 and protect communities from its impacts.