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The global response to the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic was a widespread failure that resulted in an estimated 17.7 million deaths, according to a Lancet Commission.
It found that most national governments were unprepared and too slow in their response, paid too little attention to the most vulnerable groups in their societies, and were hampered by a lack of international cooperation and an epidemic of misinformation.
The expert authors of the report are now calling for improved multilateral cooperation to end pandemics and effectively manage future global health threats. This includes a reformed and bolstered World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as investments in improved technology and improved international health financing for resource limited countries and regions.The Commission is the result of two years of work from 28 of the world’s leading experts in public policy, international governance, epidemiology, vaccinology, economics, international finance, sustainability, and mental health, and consultations with over 100 other contributors to 11 global task forces.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Chair of the Commission, University Professor at Columbia University (USA), and President of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, said: “The staggering human toll of the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic is a profound tragedy and a massive societal failure at multiple levels.
“We must face hard truths – too many governments have failed to adhere to basic norms of institutional rationality and transparency; too many people have protested basic public health precautions, often influenced by misinformation; and too many nations have failed to promote global collaboration to control the pandemic.”
National responses to Covid-19
The report said that national responses to inconsistent public health advice and poor implementation of public health and social measures, such as wearing face masks and vaccination, had an impact.
Also many public policies did not properly address the profoundly inequitable impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable communities, including women, children, and workers in low- and middle-income countries. These inequities were exacerbated by extensive misinformation campaigns on social media, low social trust, and a failure to draw on the behavioural and social sciences to encourage behaviour change and counter the significant public opposition to routine public health measures seen in many countries.
Commissioner, Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Co-Chair of UHC2030 (Geneva, Switzerland), Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and former Senator in the Mexican Congress, Mexico, added: “National pandemic preparedness plans must include the protection of vulnerable groups, including women, older people, children, disadvantaged communities, refugees, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, and people with comorbid medical conditions.
“Loss of employment and school closures due to the pandemic have devastated progress made on gender equality, education and nutrition and it is critical to prevent this from happening again. We ask governments, private sector, civil society, and international organisations to build social protection systems and guarantee universal health coverage.”
