The Covid-19 Pandemic Exposes Fatal Health Inequities

As stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, health is a fundamental human right. However, we find ourselves in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with a shortage of both human and material health resources, most of which must be sourced from the private sector. Some of the wealthiest countries—France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States—have proved unable to respond rapidly. The evolution of public health over the past four decades, during which government health policies have reduced health services to commodities and objects of speculative investment, has led to the current crisis

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Declaration · Development economics · Disease · Economic growth · Economic shortage · Economics · Global health · Government (linguistics) · Health care · Human rights · Investment (military) · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Public health · Right to health · Global Health Care Issues · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Law · Medicine · Health Policy

• In September 2020, the World Health Organization called for ‘equitable access to Covid-19 tools’ which included ‘the development, production and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines globally, while strengthening health systems’. What evidence is there of inequity of access so far in this pandemic? What is the role of national governments and of the WHO in this

  Hannah Roberts•Medicine Conflict & Survival•2021

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