Covid-19: Global challenge, global solution

ONCE more, countries are confronted with a global problem — Covid-19 — which has disrupted lives, livelihoods, communities and business worldwide. What makes it difficult to face the challenge is its connectivity to current issues and concerns that include but are not limited to lack of access to adequate sanitation by 4.2 million people; insufficient medical facilities, e.g. hospitals, intensive care units, laboratories and even personal protective equipment; and informal settlers in overpopulated areas, which prevents effective control of the coronavirus. These are especially true in developing countries, where the economic backlash of the pandemic is mostly felt because of lockdowns and abrupt halting of the world economy.

To be more specific, 20 million jobs have been lost in the international tourism industry. In Bangladesh, 4,000 textile factories were obliged to close temporarily. Supply chains in Asia, Latin America and Africa were put on hold with the consequent millions of people losing their jobs. Countries without or with insufficient social security system were hit hardest. Worst of all is the seemingly discontinued fight against other diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, AIDS, etc., with attention heavily concentrated on the Covid-19 pandemic.