The Covid-19 pandemic has set off a perfect storm. Investments and reforms will not be enough to make our societies more sustainable, digital and inclusive; we need to take a critical look at today’s socioeconomic model and find a new ethical and human balance. Rediscovering the thought of Ivan Illich is helpful.

There is great need for help in the Apulia region’s "ghettos", where migrants with precarious jobs live in conditions of terrible poverty.After working in this remote corner of “our own backyard” since 2015, CUAMM has expanded its presence during the Covid-19 crisis to guarantee basic healthcare and necessities.

Thanks to our experience in sub-Saharan Africa, CUAMM has been able to intervene not only there but also in Italy in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Underscoring the imperative of acting in unison during a pandemic, our integrated project trains health workers and junior doctors and provides support to hospitals and the most vulnerable segments of the population.

It’s not enough to respond to emergencies; a long-term perspective is necessary in our work, with the design of interventions in partnership with local people and organizations to tackle actual needs while also promoting a sense of community and resilience. In Mozambique CUAMM carries out targeted pandemic-related projects alongside non-crisis-related initiatives to support the most vulnerable

Nine months since the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in Africa, the impact of the crisis in Mozambique can be gauged not only in terms of health but also social phenomena such as child marriage, violence and demand for traditional healers. Rising poverty is producing “under-the-radar” reactions that imperil both health and development.

Our experience organizing health services and preparing communities during Ebola has played a vital role in our handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even so, the current crisis has led to a drop in the number of assisted deliveries and a rise in maternal mortality in the facilities we manage here. CUAMM’s work continues, based as always on our longstanding principles

Based on a swift assessment of the heightened risk of patient abandonment of TB treatment during Uganda’s lockdown, we implemented an intervention to provide the population with a monitoring service and home-based care, and had an unexpected success in times of Covid-19: a rise in completed treatments and lower drop-out rates

The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a devastating toll even in countries that have managed to mitigate its direct impact, such as Ethiopia. Despite a relatively low death rate, the country has seen dire consequences vis-à-vis hospital admissions for in-patient visits, hospitalization and deliveries; and the drop in payment for services has brought grave financial consequences for health facilities.