The European Region remains in the firm grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, reported deaths due to COVID-19 increased to nearly 4,200 a day, doubling from 2,100 deaths a day during the end of September. Meanwhile, cumulative reported deaths from the virus passed the 1.5 million mark for the 53 countries in this Region. Today, COVID-19 is the number one cause of death across Europe and Central Asia, as reported by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who carry out modelling for WHO/Europe.    We can expect that there will be high or extreme stress on hospital beds in 25 countries, and high or extreme stress in intensive care units (ICUs) in 49 out of 53 countries between now and 1 March 2022. Cumulative reported deaths are projected to reach over 2.2 million by spring next year, based on current trends.   “In order to live with this virus and continue our daily lives, we need to take a “vaccine plus” approach. This means getting the standard doses of vaccine, taking a booster if offered, as well as incorporating preventive measures into our normal routines. Taken together, wearing a mask, washing hands, ventilating indoor spaces, keeping physical distance, and sneezing into your elbow are simple, effective ways of gaining control over the virus and keeping societies going. All of us have the opportunity and responsibility to help avert unnecessary tragedy and loss of life, and limit further disruption to society and businesses over this winter season,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.  Factors driving increasing SARS-CoV-2 transmission The three main factors driving the current high transmission of COVID-19 are: 1.  The European Region is “Delta dominant” – the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is highly-transmissible, with no country reporting more than 1% of any other variant. 2.  In recent months many countries have indicated to their populations that COVID-19 no longer represents an emergency threat and have eased measures such as mask wearing and physical distancing in crowded or confined spaces. Now, the weather has turned colder, and people are gathering indoors. 3.  With a large number of people who are still not vaccinated, and reduced vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild disease, many people are left vulnerable to the virus.  Steps to reduce transmission and stabilize the pandemic in Europe and Central Asia “As we approach the end of 2021, let’s do everything we can by getting vaccinated and taking personal protective measures, to avoid the last resort of lockdowns and school closures.  We know through bitter experience that these have extensive economic consequences and a pervasive negative impact on mental health, facilitate interpersonal violence and are detrimental to children’s well-being and learning,” Dr Kluge commented. Increase vaccine uptake The COVID-19 vaccines are a vital tool to prevent severe disease and death and have remained effective despite the emergence of several variants of concern. Vaccination has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, prevented countless hospitalizations, and lessened the strain on health care systems since being introduced less than one year ago. WHO/Europe and ECDC will be releasing further data on this later this week. Over one billion doses have been given in the WHO European Region, with 53.5% of people having completed their vaccine dose series.  However, this hides wide differences between countries, where the range in completed vaccine dose series spans from under 10% to over 80% of the total population.  It is essential that we drive up vaccination rates amongst all those eligible, acknowledging and addressing the reasons why people have not received the vaccine so far, working more closely with behavioral and cultural scientists to understand whether these are systemic barriers to access, or individual and community concerns. The COVID passport, for example, is a collective tool to enable societies and people to continue with regular activities.   Evidence is growing that vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild disease is declining.  It is in this context that a booster dose should be given to protect the most vulnerable, including the immunocompromised, as a priority. Based on the national context of vaccine dose availability and COVID-19 epidemiology, countries should also consider giving a booster dose to those aged over 60 and heath care workers, as a precautionary measure.  Specific guidance will be released by the European Technical Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization later this week. Take personal protective measures Regular hand cleaning; maintaining physical distance from others; mask wearing; coughing or sneezing into a bent elbow or tissue; avoiding closed, confined, and crowded spaces; and ensuring good ventilation indoors have proven to be effective when used together to prevent COVID-19 infection.  Currently, 48% of people in the Region wear a mask when leaving home, according to self-reported data. A study published last week on the effectiveness of public health measures, suggested that mask wearing reduces COVID-19 incidence by 53%. If from today universal mask coverage of 95% was achieved, it is estimated that over 160,000 deaths could be prevented by 1 March 2022.  As we spend more time indoors this winter, and take part in seasonal gatherings, people should remain vigilant, manage their risk, and take precautions, following effective protective measures. Integrating these measures with public health interventions such as self-isolation and testing, contact tracing and quarantine, maximizes community protection from the virus. “Today, the COVID-19 situation across Europe and Central Asia is very serious. We face a challenging winter ahead, but we should not be without hope, because all of us – governments, health authorities, individuals – can take decisive action to stabilize the pandemic,” concluded Dr Kluge.  For further information:  Bhanu Bhatnagar, Press and Media Relations Officer: bbhatnagar@who.int
WHO/Europe Press Office: eupress@who.int    

The United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator in Belarus is aware of reports and existing concerns of the Government of Belarus in connection with a legal aid programme benefiting certain vulnerable groups of persons.  The UN is in communication with the Government of Belarus on this issue. The UN Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team, including all UN agencies, funds and programmes working in Belarus are focused on continuing our work with and for Belarus and we look forward to further collaboration with Belarusian authorities and civil society partners, including in the area of sustainable development and human rights.

On 9 September 2021, representatives of legislative bodies, ministries and departments, regional executive committees, educational and some nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies in Belarus took part in the fifth annual meeting of the National Council for Sustainable Development in Minsk. The meeting participants were welcomed by the National Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Coordinator Anatoli Isachenko and the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki. In her speech Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki noted that global development challenges including the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, social, political and economic inequalities create dangerous conditions in which development gains of the last decades can be easily wasted and destroyed forever.  The crisis and recovery is also a moment of global competition – some countries are recovering faster than others and using the crisis as an opportunity to invest in human development by increasing their own spending in areas of critical importance to the wellbeing of the people and planet.  Speaking to the meeting participants the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus underlined that Belarus cannot stand-by or stay behind such global change and the National Council for Sustainable Development can play an important role in coordinating the cross-sectoral implementation of the National Sustainable Development Strategy and the accompanying 5- years national plans and programmes.  “Partnerships between different segments of the society are key. Creating and protecting a free and enabling environment for civil society, also working with civil society organisations, developing capacity and using their expertise and knowledge while maintaining an open and inclusive dialogue on all issues - -this can be a powerful and winning strategy for sustainable development in the country,” the UN Resident Coordinator said while emphasizing that development that is not human-centered and respectful of the rights of all stakeholders cannot be sustainable. With the upcoming COP26 meeting in Glasgow, the SDG Council can play an important role in reviewing the progress in the area of climate action in Belarus, highlighting the contribution of Belarus to the global effort of cutting down emissions and also in making sure that climate action is a priority.  The UN Country Team in Belarus is ready to support the implementation of the national priorities in the area of sustainable development, including the the National strategy of dignified longevity, State programme on health of the  population and demographic security, also programmes on SME development, National action plan on gender equality, National Programme on Green Economic Development, and others. Regional development is essential for successful achievement of SDG in Belarus based on human capital, national partners, budget resources and public-private partnerships. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) together with the National Coordinator for SDG achievement proposed the Chernobyl Investment Platform as a tool for the development of recovering districts. This new tool will help the districts to develop local economic initiatives, attract investment for economically viable project and embrace new technologies. “In our work aimed at SDG achievement we focus on the regional development of Belarus in order not to leave anyone behind,” - said Alexandra Solovieva, UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus. – “We hope that the Chernobyl Investment Platform with its digital and financial solutions will contribute to the development of public-private partnerships and innovation in the regions of Belarus.  The role of UNDP is to draw on the international expertise and practices through the long-term project cooperation of its results.” The National Council for Sustainable Development is a consultative advisory body and a part of the institutional mechanism for the Sustainable Development Goals achievement in the Republic of Belarus.    

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call to action for all countries to improve the well-being of all people without exception and to preserve the planet. The 17 goals build on the results of the Millennium Development Goals and include emerging topics such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace, and justice. Belarus is one of sixty countries implementing programmes of such kind. In the Sustainable Development Report 2021, IMF estimates that the global need for additional spending on the SDGs is about 14 percent of global GDP a year by 2030. The program implemented by UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women and the Resident Coordinator Office in Belarus will allow to find new approaches to solving this challenge in Belarus. The goal of the program is to promote new financing tools for sustainable development with a focus on vulnerable populations. The UN agencies will implement their parts across various thematic areas with UNDP playing the coordinating role and working with other UN agencies on specific components to ensure continuity across SDGs. UNDP is also partnering with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to conduct a finance assessment in the area of environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources (SDGs 12-15). A team of international and national experts will work together to analyze the existing costs and future financial needs to address environmental challenges in Belarus. Using the BioFin methodology, UNDP will analyze the financial resources allocated for issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, develop optimal options for reallocating existing and attracting new sources of funding. Based on the findings of the assessment, it will be possible to introduce innovative methods of budgeting in the management of natural resources and environmental protection in Belarus and thereby contribute to the improvement of national environmental programs and practices.  Within this programme UNFPA will support the healthcare system to improve efficiency of budget planning and spending. The agency will facilitate analysis, with special focus on reproductive health, and explore needs for services depending on gender. New approach will be based on emerging data and up-to-date scientific evidence. As a result, innovative cost-effective practices in the area of cervical cancer prevention, maternal health and gender-oriented budgeting will be introduced and piloted to track expenditures of budget resources in relation to the achieved outcome. Furthermore, UNFPA and UNICEF in Belarus have initiated joint consultations with the Ministry of Health on strengthening capacities of public authorities and healthcare managers. The aim is to discuss normative cost-based budget planning methods per consumer and opportunities for aligning budgeting with SDGs. Apart from that, these UN agencies are talking with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection on initiating dialogue for performance-based budgeting and capacity building for adolescents’ and assessment of the total volume and composition of budget allocations for children, adolescents, vulnerable families, and other vulnerable groups. Apart from that, UNICEF in Belarus is focusing on measuring the impact of public expenditures contributing to achieving child-related SDGs and conducting a quarterly survey of the needs of families with children to advance the methodology for measuring multidimensional child poverty (MDCP). Additionally, UNICEF in Belarus is planning to assess the performance of social assistance to families with children through the lens of MDCP and carrying out a study on measuring public expenditure targeting children (child budget) in three cities (Minsk, Borisov, Molodechno) by the end of 2021. Another agency, partaking in the joint efforts, is UN Women which works closely with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. Their goal is to strengthen the capacities of state employees to use gender-responsive budgeting tools in planning and budgeting. The agency plans to perform trainings and mentoring on gender analysis, promote the principle of equal rights and opportunities in development of state programmes. Besides UN Women will contribute to assessment of SDG indicators, disaggregated by sex, and work out specific recommendations in line with the National Action Plan on Gender Equality. In total, after the programme is finalized, Belarus will be equipped with technical capacity and tools to continue its transition to performance-based budgeting in the areas of health care, social services and natural resources, with a focus on the development of gender-sensitive and child-focused normative budgeting methodology. In addition, the Programme envisages testing the methodology of normative budgeting. Its implementation is expected to help increase the efficiency of public services provision by improving budget planning and spending. In addition, the proposed tools will have several positive effects – promoting economic growth, expanding social inclusion, improving environmental performance and management methods. Similar programmes have already demonstrated their effectiveness in a number of countries. For example, UN agencies and the government of Uzbekistan have published a report assessing financial flows for Sustainable Development Goals and identified opportunities for financing the SDGs so that funding, mostly private, reaches those regions and people who need it most. Belarus remains in the group of “very high human development countries” and ranks 24 in the SDG Development Index. Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on human development and, in particular, on achievement of SDG 1 (poverty eradication). After several years of successive reductions, extreme poverty increased in 2020. The slowdown in economic activity and global recession caused by the pandemic led to an increase in unemployment, affecting SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth). Under such circumstances, the introduction of innovative tools for financing the SDGs, as well as new approaches to the planning and use of budgetary funds focused on sustainable development are particularly relevant. The new Programme will assess the effectiveness of budget planning and spending and prepare recommendations for effective financing aimed at achieving the SDGs in Belarus.