Inequality is undermining national and global efforts to combat pandemics, making them more disruptive, deadly, and longer in duration, according to a global report by UNAIDS on Monday.
The report by the world-leading economists, public health experts, and political leaders as part of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, a high-level initiative convened by UNAIDS, highlighted how inequality is making the world more vulnerable to pandemics.
It highlighted that high levels of inequality, within and between countries, are not only making pandemics more economically disruptive and deadly but also enabling them to last longer.
On the other hand, pandemics are also fostering inequality, fuelling a cycle that was visible not just for Covid-19, but also for AIDS, Ebola, influenza, mpox, among others.
The report called for actions on inequality before pandemics hit to protect the world from the next global disease crisis more effectively than current preparedness efforts.
“This report shows why leaders urgently need to tackle the inequalities that drive pandemics, and it shows them how they can do this. Reducing inequalities within and between countries will enable a better, fairer, and safer life for everyone,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director and United Nations Under-Secretary-General.
The new findings arrive as G20 Health Ministers prepare to meet amidst reports of new and growing outbreaks internationally of avian flu and mpox, and as breakthrough HIV prevention drugs are being approved by drug regulators.
The report called for a new approach to health security that is capable of interrupting the inequality-pandemic cycle with practical and achievable actions on the social and economic determinants of pandemics at both national and global levels.
It also urged the removal of financial barriers in the global architecture to allow all countries sufficient fiscal capacity to address the inequalities driving pandemics.
“Build local and regional production alongside a new governance of research and development capable of ensuring the sharing of technology as public goods needed to stop pandemics,” the report said.
“The evidence is unequivocal. If we reduce inequalities — including through decent housing, fair work, quality education, and social protection — we reduce pandemic risk at its roots. Actions to tackle inequality are not ‘nice to have’; they are essential to pandemic preparedness and response,” said Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director at University College London’s Institute of Health Equity.
(IANS)