Governance of the COVID-19 Pandemic:

Global Response and Youth Voice

COVID-19 pandemic is the most widespread global pandemic in the 21st century, posing a serious challenge to the world. The grim reality is that since the outbreak, more than 400 million people have been infected and over 6 million have lost their lives. The raging epidemic has plunged the world into recession, with overloaded healthcare systems, stagnant economic development and imbalanced social order becoming problems for many countries. The achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is also being tested as never before.

 To combat the pandemic, global actors have taken active steps. For example, the Chinese government is taking a ‘dynamic zero COVID-19’ strategy to curb the spread of the virus, while in many other countries a variety of measures have been adopted to explore ways to co-exist with the virus. Other actors, including IOs, NGOs and private sectors, are also working together to contribute their wisdom and strength to the fight against the epidemic. Against this backdrop, YICGG2022 calls on youth around the world to jointly explore the experiences and shortcomings of global COVID-19 responses, and to think about feasible solutions for the world to rebound from the pandemic. Referring to the different areas of the 2030 Agenda, we propose that this topic can be explored under (but not limited to) the following action-oriented perspectives:

Recommended topics: 1. COVID-19 PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
Focusing on the specific measures taken to prevent and control the spread of the coronavirus and toprotect the health of their citizens, topic 1 aims to explore how different governmental and civil societyforces can contribute to the prevention and control of the epidemic.Questions that could be further explored under this topic include (but are not limited to):What measures have governments taken when facing the COVID-19 pandemic? How well do they work? What are
the gaps? What can we learn from them for better emergency management?How have national governance systems and capacities affected the choice of pandemic control methods? What are
the influences of central-local governments relations, public-private sectors relations,inter-departmental relations andstate-society relations matter in this process?What are the roles played by the public, communities and grassroots organisations in the COVID-19 response?How can digital technology and artificial intelligence help to control the spread of the pandemic? Are there ethicalissues involved?

Recommended topics: 2. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RECOVERY
Focusing on the economic and social consequences of the pandemic and responses of countries, topic 2aims to reflect on how to achieve more sustainable development under the threat of the pandemic.Questions that could be further explored under this topic include (but are not limited to):What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems? What can countries do to rebuild resilienthealth systems and ensure health for all? What economic impact has the pandemic had on different economies, especially developing countries？Whatpolicies have been adopted to mitigate the damage to different industries? How well did they worked?What social protection policies have countries adopted to protect vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic? How
can they be refined?What impact has the pandemic had on previous education patterns? How will education develop in the post-pandemic era?What new forms of public services have emerged in the post-COVID-19 era? What role does digital technology play inthis?

2 

Focusing on how the international society build consensus and enhance cooperation to combat the
pandemic, topic 3 aims to find ways to work towards better global health governance.Questions that could be further explored under this topic include (but are not limited to):How to promote global sharing of COVID-19 vaccines, medicines and medical devices? What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the current regimes of mechanisms for regional and global cooperation?How can an international pandemic instrument enhance global cooperation on the surveillance, early warning andresponse to future pandemics? What do you think of the prospect of an international pandemic treaty?What are the impacts of the pandemic on economic globalization? Has global economic inequality beenexacerbated? What should be done about it?What multilateral and bilateral aid has been provided by global actors to help developing countries cope with the
pandemic? What has been the role of IOs? Are they effective?In the post-COVID-19 era, how can youth around the world pool common values to build a global community ofhealth for all?