COVID-19 BLOG SERIES LAUNCH

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), South Asia COVID-19 blog series will be launched on Monday May 11, 2020 at 11:00 am (IST).

Shutterstock/ By Ruwan Walpola

Produced in collaboration with ReSAKSS-Asia, this special blogs series is in continuation of our global efforts with a special attention to the South Asia region. It will provide a platform for the researchers, policy makers, and civil society leaders to share their insights and analysis of the impacts and policy responses to COVID-19 pandemic at the national and regional levels.

The lockdowns in South Asia has most likely triggered the largest disruption of livelihoods in human history, affecting over 1.7 billion people. Despite slowdown of Indian economy, the region was projected to grow by over 6% only a couple of months ago. Now it is confronted with the risk of experiencing economic contraction and negative growth, which can potentially result in major setback and reverse the pace of improvement in social and economic well-beings.

The COVID-19 impacts are not hard to imagine. Loss of livelihoods, disruptions to supply chains, reduced / suspended access to health and nutrition services, and overwhelmed social protection system will directly or indirectly impact the food and nutrition security. While the focus has hitherto been on managing emergencies, major shifts in policies and investment will be needed to protect the gains the region has made over the past decades. The IFPRI-South Asia blog series will delve into several of these issues from sub-national, national, and regional perspectives.

Eminent policy experts, country collaborators, development partners, and civil society leaders in the region will be contributing to the blog series on a range of issues. On Monday May 11, 2020 we are launching our series with a blog post from Professor Ramesh Chand, Member NITI Aayog on COVID-19 and Food System Risks in India.

To read the complete blog series click here.

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