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In This Update:
Nearly Twenty-Five Percent of Delhi Population Exposed to COVID-19
In Cape Town, Slums Feel Brunt of COVID-19 Outbreak
Mitigating the Spread of COVID-19 in Internally Displaced Persons Camps Through Decongestion
In the Face of COVID-19, Top Foreign Aid Donors Decrease Funding
Artificial Intelligence Can Enhance Urban Disaster Risk Management
IHC Global Spotlight Event
In the News And Around the Web
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Nearly Twenty-Five Percent of Delhi Population Exposed to COVID-19
Nearly a quarter of Delhi's population were exposed to coronavirus, according to India's National Center for Disease Control (NCDC). The NCDC conducted a random sample of 20,000 residents and found 23.4% had antibodies to the virus. Most of the cases detected were asymptomatic. Delhi comprises 10% of the 1.1. million cases reported by India. Last month, a spike in cases overwhelmed the city's healthcare capacities as hospitals ran out of beds and ventilators. Despite counting the third largest number of cases worldwide, the official death rate is far lower than
expecte
d which some experts attribute to India's poor record on collecting mortality data.
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In Cape Town, Slums Feel Brunt of COVID-19 Outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic underlines the necessity of slum upgrading, writes Warren Smit from the African Centre on Cities, University of Cape Town. Cape Town has recorded more cases than any other African city as its slums have borne the brunt of the outbreak. The Khayelitsha and Klipfontein settlements have both the highest concentration of informal housing and the highest prevalence of COVID-19 in the city. Their virus rate stands at 1,600 cases per 100,000 residents as compared to the city average of 1,174 per 100,000. Smit explains informal settlements are virus hotspots because overcrowding means people are unable to socially distance while lack of adequate water means residents are unable to practice handwashing and safe sanitation.
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Mitigating the Spread of COVID-19 in Internally Displaced Persons Camps through Decongestion
UN-Habitat-Somalia, Shelter Cluster, and CCCM Cluster jointly developed an infographic and guidance note to help plan for a COVID-19 outbreak in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. In Somalia, 2.6 million IDPs in urban and peri-urban areas live in crowded living conditions with limited access to quality healthcare and water and sanitation services. Decongestion is necessary for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in overcrowded areas as well as addressing other risks posed by overcrowding including fire outbreaks, flooding, gender-based violence, and communicable diseases. The document outlines how to make decongestion possible through finding available and suitable land, coordinating infrastructure mapping, and ensuring community engagement and accountability.
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In the Face of COVID-19, Top Foreign Aid Donors Decrease Funding
The world's top humanitarian aid government donors drastically decreased aid in 2020 according to an analysis by Development Initiatives. Development Initiatives asserts that top donor countries committed a total of $16.9 billion in aid compared to $23.9 billion during the same period last year. Donor countries are also struggling in the face of COVID-19 and national lockdowns, but the decrease in foreign aid during COVID-19 could particularly devastate developing countries and ongoing humanitarian situations. For example, last month, the United Nations World Food Program announced it could shut down in the coming weeks because it had only received 19% of its $965 million request.
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Artificial Intelligence Can Enhance Urban Disaster Risk Management
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) could enhance community mapping efforts in cities, according to a blog by the World Bank Disaster Risk Management team. Data collection through community mapping helps cities invest in disaster risk reduction strategies, but on-the-ground data collection cannot always match the pace of rapid urbanization and increasing density and sprawl. AI and ML could help cities scale their mapping efforts across a larger geographic area than community mapping efforts alone. But, the authors warn that AI and ML systems must be used responsibly and ethically, in order to protect the communities they aim to help.
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IHC Global Spotlight Event
Smart City Training Series:
How to Ensure Gender Inclusion for Smart City Services
Thursday, August 6, 2020
6:30 AM EDT/12:30 PM CET
Online
United Nations Development Program
Global Center for Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Development
The United Nations Development Program Global Centre for Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Development will host a discussion on how to deliver gender-inclusive smart city services.
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UNDP Smart Cities and Digitalization Expert Elba Fuster Figuerola will moderate the discussion about how to bridge the gender digital divide on ensuring women can access the opportunities presented by technology.
IHC Global Program and Policy
Coordinator Natalie Gill will speak about the risks and opportunities of using new technologies for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 to end gender inequality and how to use the IHC Global
Smart City Just City
initiative to design smart cities with women and girls in mind. German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) Sustainability Mobility Advisor Verena Flues will share how a gender-based approach is crucial for mobility in cities and how technology can play a role in facilitating this.
Find more information here.
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In The News and Around the Web
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Coronavirus Tracing Apps May Have Limited Impact: Governments are also rethinking how data collected could be misused.
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COVID-19 Deaths Are Likely Underestimated in South Africa:
South Africa recorded sixty percent more deaths over the past two months than during the same period in 2019.
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Rethinking Section 8 Housing:
At Market Urbanism, Scott Beyer offers ideas for reforming Section 8 housing to better serve renters and landlords.
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The Art Deco Capital of Central Africa
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Colonial-era buildings in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo have a mixed legacy.
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An art-deco style and colonial-era building in Bukavo, Democratic Republic of Congo
(Photo Credit: Carly Lunden/Atlas Obscura)
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