December 2, 2020 - 14:00

Older people are more and more at home in the digital world. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, many seniors relied on WhatsApp messaging or video calls to overcome loneliness. A recent study shows that internet use among pensioners in Switzerland has almost doubled over the past decade and allowed many to stay in touch during the pandemic.

Comment les personnes âgées utilisent-elles Internet? Depuis 2010, l’étude Digital Seniors, mandatée par Pro Senectute, examine l’utilisation des technologies de l’information et de la communication par les personnes de 65 ans et plus en Suisse. Les trois enquêtes réalisées ces 10 dernières années présentent d’une manière unique l’évolution de l’utilisation du numérique par les seniors et mettent en évidence des tendances très intéressantes.

Development Pathways (08.02.2021) The paper makes the case for a “family stimulus” in the UK, advising the government to urgently boost the income of families hard-hit by the pandemic through the social security system, as well as targeting investment in childcare to ensure this sector keeps operating.

europa.eu (28.02.2021) The European Commission has presented a green paper to launch a broad policy debate on the challenges and opportunities of Europe's ageing society. It sets out the impact of this pronounced demographic trend across our economy and society and invites the public to express their views on how to respond to this in a public consultation, which will run for 12 weeks.

sciencedirect.com (2021) COVID-19 induced significant economic and social disruptions in India. Rural households, including smallholders, were affected by loss in migrant income, livelihood and farm and non-farm incomes. During this lockdown, the Indian government enacted several emergency legislations to provide direct and indirect relief to workers and households. India’s COVID-19 social assistance package, namely, PM-GKY, announced in March 2020, was designed to provide immediate relief to the vulnerable population.

Oxfam (Feb 2021)  The report shows that COVID-19 has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began over a century ago. Rising inequality means it could take at least 14 times longer for the number of people living in poverty to return to pre-pandemic levels than it took for the fortunes of the top 1,000, mostly White male, billionaires to bounce back.

Development Pathways (January 2021) David Hillson takes a look at the recent historical role of the social contract in social protection within the context of COVID-19. He argues that the social contract has been central to huge socio-economic advances and is a product and reflection of each political zeitgeist. David concludes that now is the moment to create an inclusive, universal social protection new normal to help reshape societies during the time of the pandemic and beyond.

Oxfam (15.12.2020) As 2020 draws to a close, the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating. Without urgent action, global poverty and inequality will deepen dramatically. Hundreds of millions of people have already lost their jobs, gone further into debt or skipped meals for months. Research by Oxfam and Development Pathways shows that over 2 billion people have had no support from their governments in their time of need.

un.org (10.12.2020) The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, slams the levels of financial support for children allocated by high-income countries during the pandemic as totally inadequate, in a child poverty report issued on Friday.

COVID-19 has affected the incomes of some health professionals by reducing demand for care and increasing expenditures for treatment preparedness. In a survey of 14 European countries, we found that most countries have incentivised substitutive e-health services to avoid loss of income.