Suchergebnisse

Mimeographed on one side of leaf only. ; At head of title: Federal emergency relief administration. Research library. ; Cover-title. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Congressional Record S. 13570 - The Tax Reform - Tax Relief Measure

The Covid-19 containment measures taken in Uganda have been amongst the most radical in Africa: closure of the borders, a ban on public and private transport, closure of non-essential shops, and a ban on political, religious and cultural meetings. Even before the identification of the first case of Covid-19, the Ugandan government had taken measures to prevent the dissemination of the disease, helped by a solid experience in managing pandemics. Nonetheless, and despite the strong reactivity of the Ugandan government to take firm sanitary measures to fight the disease, the response to the socio-economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was extremely limited and mainly directed toward the formal private sector. Informal urban workers, despite being the most affected by the crisis, were only targeted by rudimentary relief measures that could be described as humanitarian "band-aids". Indeed, social protection is still a very young preoccupation of the Ugandan government, but this has to be analyzed within the broader context of the presidential election that took place in January 2021. The incumbent government used the containment measures to muzzle the opposition on the one hand, and to monopolize actions and discourses on the disease on the other. ; 26

Australia experiences frequent heat waves and generally high average temperatures throughout the continent with substantial impacts on human health and the economy. People adapt to heat by adopting various relief measures in their daily lives including changing their behaviour. Many labour intensive outdoor industries implement standards for heat stress management for their workforce. However, little is known about how people cope with heat at their workplaces apart from studies targeting some specific industries where labourers are exposed to extreme heat. Here, we analysed responses from 1719 people in the Australian labour force to self-reported heat stress and associated coping mechanisms. Three quarters of respondents experienced heat stress at their workplace with fatigue and headache being the two most frequently stated symptoms. Almost all of those who were affected by heat would hydrate (88%), 67% would cool, and 44% would rest as a strategy for coping with heat. About 10% intended to change their jobs because of heat stress in the workplace. We found differences in heat relief measures across gender, education, health, level of physical intensity of job, and time spent working outside. People working in jobs that were not very demanding physically were more likely to choose cooling down as a relief measure, while those in labour intensive jobs and jobs that required considerable time outside were more likely to rest. This has potential consequences for their productivity and work schedules. Heat affects work in Australia in many types of industry with impact dependent on workforce acclimatisation, yet public awareness and work relief plans are often limited to outdoor and labour intensive industries. Industries and various levels of government in all sectors need to implement standards for heat management specific to climate zones to help people cope better with high temperatures as well as plan strategies in anticipation of projected temperature increases.

The Covid-19 containment measures taken in Uganda have been amongst the most radical in Africa: closure of the borders, a ban on public and private transport, closure of non-essential shops, and a ban on political, religious and cultural meetings. Even before the identification of the first case of Covid-19, the Ugandan government had taken measures to prevent the dissemination of the disease, helped by a solid experience in managing pandemics. Nonetheless, and despite the strong reactivity of the Ugandan government to take firm sanitary measures to fight the disease, the response to the socio-economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was extremely limited and mainly directed toward the formal private sector. Informal urban workers, despite being the most affected by the crisis, were only targeted by rudimentary relief measures that could be described as humanitarian "band-aids". Indeed, social protection is still a very young preoccupation of the Ugandan government, but this has to be analyzed within the broader context of the presidential election that took place in January 2021. The incumbent government used the containment measures to muzzle the opposition on the one hand, and to monopolize actions and discourses on the disease on the other.

This report discusses South Africa's initial social policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It provides a timeline of the early stages of the pandemic and of the government's legislative interventions. South Africa's social policy response was premised on the country's post-apartheid development agenda, which is significantly informed by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In response to the pandemic, South Africa's government rolled out a social relief and economic support package worth approximately 10% of GDP. This package funded, for instance, a special Covid-19 "Social Relief of Distress Grant" for all those individuals who were unemployed and did not receive any other form of social assistance. South Africa could roll out such a massive social relief and economic support package because the necessary institutional infrastructure was already in place. The report concludes with some reflections on the broader social implications of the pandemic. ; 21