Home ›› 08 Aug 2021 ›› Editorial
With its genesis in Wuhan, the Covid-19 pandemic has rocked the world economic system to an extent that any other disasters could not derail the entire world’s supply chain, health infrastructures and job markets with a devastating impact on the emotional bent of mind. Be it the Ski-village Zermatt, Switzerland, resort in Phuket, Thailand or the coral reef resort Samal, Philippines; all bear a scar in its opulence report. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a deleterious impact worldwide encompassing not only the developing world such as Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand but also the developed world: the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Australia. It appears that the Covid-19 pandemic with sequence of mutations rummaging already the frail world economy in a brutal way and thus policy polemics in a state of chaos and confusion.
The pandemic stalled the growth of GDP in many countries of the world and accentuated inequality. Unfortunately, China is again in the grip of pandemic with venomous Delta variant rendering the optimism of zero tolerance by President Xi Jinping as immature. Resurface of the virus in China prompted several measures that includes COVID-19 test of 12 million people of Wuhan, the epicenter of outbreak. The mask mandate withdrawn in the United States after a 60 percent successful vaccination drive is again enforced in many states and the bait of $ 100 for a jab could not attract many. Australia, South Korea, Brazil and Thailand yearning for a respite are struggling in taming the challenges. Many countries with poor internet connectivity and acute digital divide would pay a heavy price in streamlining the cumulative academic losses in physical attendance in classes, scheduled public examinations and lab experiment.
It is pertinent to bring certain salient features delving the negligence, indifference and treatment on issues that could reduce the loss due to this pandemic. First, the overall negligence is manifested in utter disregard of climate change that displaced the natural habitat and also the food habit of many communities causing the germination and spread of various zoonotic viruses; three out of four new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals. Secondly, the inadequate budgetary provision in the health sector in many countries and lack of preparedness and commitment even to meet challenges in a localized epidemic environment or in a natural disaster. Thirdly, integration of the world economy resulted in manyfold increase in traffic volume causing rapid spread of the viruses. Many countries either deliberately or passively allowed traffic movement during this pandemic that caused accelerated spread of viruses. Fourthly, with a modest initial success; many countries ignored the essential preemptive measures and then failed to meet the requirement of effective containment with the second or third wave.
The world leaders are at a dismay. Research often reveals startling findings and so there are cautious move in many instances in the efficacy of certain medications including the vaccines manufactured in different countries. Probably this is the first instances in a few decades that all countries of the world are in a pageant to challenge this pandemic initially set its foot in late December 2019 in China. World Health Organization in a recent report-- Covid-19: Make it the Last Pandemic charted the various lacuna related to the spread and containment of the virus and furnished a road map to escape such a pandemic in future. The report is the product of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response that comprised former heads of government, senior ministers, health care experts and members of civil society. The 13 member panel was headed by the distinguished economist and former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark and former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The panel started the work in September 2020 and finalized the report in May 2021 incorporating feedbacks from various stakeholders on the evidence of the spread, actions and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
WHO through Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) tried to install a precautionary response on January 30, 2020 but many countries “underpowered the agency to do the job demanded of it?” Notably, on July 6, 2020 the US officially notified its intention to withdraw from WHO and that put an immediate strain on the WHO budget. Global tensions and hegemony undermined multilateral institutions and inhibited global cooperation on many preventive measures. One of the important key findings asserts that wealth cannot be a predicator of the containment but commitment and preparedness of the leadership, willingness to adopt in changed circumstances, community involvement and transparency constituted the core values for success.
There are seven recommendations by the panel to prevent a future infectious disease outbreak from becoming a pandemic. Out of the seven, two recommendations pertain to individual country level; invest in preparedness now to prevent the next crisis and national pandemic coordinators have a direct link to head of state or government. The other five recommendations are by nature multilateral and require the boldness and commitment of the world leaders and different multilateral institutions including IMF and ITO. It is important to focus on country level requirements on preparedness plans against targets and benchmarks with assistance from WHO. Moreover, IMF should scrutinize and evaluate an economic policy response plan as part of the Article IV consultation with member countries. The other recommendations rests on capacity building at different levels including such as “increased multi-disciplinary capacity in public health institutions, annual simulation exercises, increased social protections and support to health workers, including community health workers, investment in risk communication, planning with communities and in particular those who are marginalized.” A brief look at Bangladesh’s Covid-19 preparedness in relation to two years budgets does not portray a convincing picture. The budget allocation in health sector and emergency allocation to challenge further waves is still five per cent. Considering the Covid 19 perspective, allocation could be 10-15 per cent in consideration of the urgency and the number of deaths. Though there is a block allocation for meeting the pandemic emergencies including procurement of vaccines and the increase of ICU units. The immediate prerequisite for Bangladesh is to design a comprehensive package on capacity building at different levels so that the gap between the benchmarks and the targets set with assistance from WHO could be met before the onslaught of a new pandemic.
The writer is the Treasurer and a Professor, School of Business and Economics, United International University
