A new joint report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reveals that economies of the region will only be reactivated if the curve of contagion of the COVID-19 pandemic is flattened.
The report proposes a three-phase approach that includes the adoption of health, economic, social, and productive policies that aim to control and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, reactivation with protection, and rebuilding in a sustainable and inclusive way.
Some countries have led the Region to become the current epicenter of the pandemic, topping global case numbers. As of 29 July, there have been more than 4.5 million cases of COVID-19 and almost 190,000 deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean. A significant number of countries remain far from achieving a sustained and significant flattening of the curve of contagion. The pandemic has also unleashed an unprecedented economic and social crisis which, if urgent measures are not taken, could transform into hunger and humanitarian crisis.
According to the report, Health and the Economy: A Convergence Needed to Address COVID-19 and Retake the Path of Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, the pandemic has profoundly affected the lives and livelihoods of people in the Region.
From the start, the pandemic has caused the most abrupt recession in history which, according to ECLAC projections, will imply a regional drop in growth of -9.1% in 2020, along with a rise in unemployment to 13.5%, an increase in the poverty rate of 7.0 percentage points, which will reach 37.3% of the population, and sharpening of inequality with an average rise in the Gini index of 4.9 percentage points.
Health systems of the region, which were already underfunded and fragmented prior to the arrival of COVID-19, are having to face the pandemic with weaknesses in the performance of the health authorities’ steering role. Public health expenditure averages a mere 3.7% of GDP, far from the 6% target recommended by PAHO. A third of the population still faces some type of barrier to access the health services they need.
According to the report, the high degree of inequality combined with the high levels of poverty, informality, lack of social protection, and limited access to quality, timely health care, explain the high social costs that the pandemic is having in the region.
The dynamics of contagion are also influenced by the high degree of urbanization – more than a third of the population live in cities with a million or more inhabitants – and the accumulated deficits in terms of overcrowding, lack of water and sanitation services, and crowded public transportation.
To address the short and long-term effects of the pandemic, ECLAC and PAHO propose a set of principles for action and policies, as well as a wide range of health, social and economic measures to be deployed in three nonlinear and interrelated phases: control, reactivation, and reconstruction.
Three overarching messages emphasize the measures proposed by the Organizations to confront the pandemic: No economic opening is possible until the curve of contagion has been controlled, and reactivation is not possible without a clear plan to avoid a spike in contagion; health measures aimed at controlling the pandemic (including quarantine and social distancing) must be implemented in conjunction with social and economic measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the crisis, as this facilitates compliance with health measures; and rebuilding better implies promoting sustainable and inclusive development with equality at the center, advancing productive transformation and creation of a state of wellbeing.
The report concludes by outlining that the measures proposed by the Organizations rest on the need to coordinate health policies with economic, social, and productive policies. These include testing, contract tracing, and public health measures such as quarantine and social distancing, as well as the strengthening of health systems with a focus on primary health care and ensuring compliance with essential public health functions.
Original source: PAHO
Published on 30 July 2020
