Wash hand

As the highly transmissible Delta variant drives new COVID-19 infections and restrictions around the world, social and economic fallout from the pandemic is looming ever larger for low and middle-income countries.

Across Malaysia, low-income families are raising white flags outside their homes to signal their need for food and other essentials while they remain out of work because of the country’s fourth lockdown. Meanwhile the vaccines needed to protect vulnerable populations remain concentrated in the hands of the world’s wealthiest nations, compounding loss of life and inequalities and leaving these families to face the pandemic’s impact for years to come.

 

The numbers are striking: low-income countries have been able to vaccinate just 1.32 percent of their populations, compared to 50.15 percent in high-income countries. In a sign of how deep the inequities run, billions of people in low-income countries are awaiting their first doses even as plans are being discussed to develop and roll out 800 million booster shots in high-income countries

 

While high-income countries only have to increase their healthcare spending by about 0.8 percent to vaccinate 70 percent of their population, low-income countries will have to increase their spending by 57 percent to reach the same level of protection.

 

In 2020, informal workers suffered a 60 percent decrease in their earnings. Job opportunities for many in low and middle-income countries remain limited, suppressed by low vaccination rates that necessitate lockdown measures. Combined with low rates of social protection, vulnerable groups will continue to bear the brunt of the economic fallout from COVID-19.

 

A fairer, faster and sustainable recovery from COVID-19 is needed.

 

By Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director of HIV, Health and Development, UNDP, and Laurel Patterson, Head of SDG Integration, UNDP.

 

To read the full article please access https://www.undp.org

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