 WHO has launched the ‘COVID-19 Technology Access Pool’ for equitable access to life-saving tech. This comes after at least 37 countries jointly appealed to the World Health Organisation for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and other diagnostic tools to combat the global health crisis. C-TAP aims to accelerate the development of vaccines and medicines through the sharing of research and information and to increase manufacturing capacity for any products that are developed. WHO has also issued a ‘Solidarity Call to Action’ urging other stakeholders of the UN health agency to join the cause. |
 UNICEF and Airtel Africa has partnered to support children & families affected by COVID-19. The partnership between the two aims to provide children with access to remote learning and enable access to cash assistance for their families through mobile cash transfers. Mobile technology will be used by the UNICEF and Airtel Africa to benefit around 133 million school age children who are currently affected by school closures in 13 countries across sub-Saharan Africa due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Airtel Africa will zero-rate the selected websites which are hosting educational content and will provide children with remote access to digital content at no cost. The partnership will also enable UNICEF to offer vital cash assistance to remove financial obstacles for some of the most vulnerable families across the region. Hence it will ensure that families have additional resources to tackle with the proceeding health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership will benefit the children and families in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa namely: Zambia, Congo, Nigeria, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Chad. |
 Lesotho Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane has formally resigned from the post. Thabane and his current wife are suspected of conspiring to murder his former wife nearly three years ago, thus evolving political crises in the country. Lesotho’s Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro has been named by parliament as the interim PM of the country. |
 On March 9, 2020, the prices of crude oil plunged by 20% after OPEC to failed to make a deal in making production cuts. |
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 Ukraine parliament approved Denys Shmygal as a new prime minister of Ukraine. He is the nominee of Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. He won by majority, previously he held the post as the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of regional Development & before that was governor of the western Ivano-Frankivsk region. Ukraine Parliament also approved Oleksiy Honcharuk resignation who is previous Prime Minister of Ukraine. He was first offered his resignation in January 2020 after a leaked recording of him saying that the President’s views on the country’s economy as “primitive”& in his 2nd attempt he was offered resignation. He served only 6 months & was the country’s youngest Prime Minister. |
 On March 6, 2020, India joined the Indian Ocean Commission as the fifth observer. The other four observers in the grouping are Malta, China, European Union and OIF (International Organization of La Francophonie). |
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 The United Nations Global Compact conducted a study recently and found that female labour participation has decreased from 34% in 2006 to 24.8% in 2020. The study also says that out of the 153 countries surveyed, India is the only country where economic gender gap is greater than political gap. |
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 The annual festival of St Antony’s Shrine begins in Katchatheevu Island of Sri Lanka. The festival began with the traditional flag hoisting ceremonies. St Antony is being worshiped by the devotees as the patron saint of sea farers. The St shrine is the only structure on the Katchatheevu island. Priests from both India and Sri Lanka conducts the mass and car procession in connection with the festival. The festival celebrations also featured the participation of more than 3,000 devotees from India. As per an agreement between the two governments, Indians are not required to possess an Indian passport or Sri Lankan visa for visiting Kachchatheevu. |
 Leader of Slovenian Democratic Party, Janez Jansa becomes new Prime Minister of Slovenia. He will replace centre-left Prime Minister Marjan Sarec, who resigned from his post in January 2020. Slovenia’s parliament confirmed Janez Jansa as its new prime minister. Previously Jansa led the Slovenian government from 2004 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2013. |
 During India’s Smart Utility Week, India and European Union called upon Integrated Local Energy System. The countries are to work upon clean energy and climate. The collaboration will help to improvise clean energy supply |
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