Politico | How coronavirus pandemic set world back ‘25 years in 25 weeks’
- Progress on global health and the economy has regressed, Gates Foundation report finds
- Bill and Melinda Gates call for global collaboration on development of diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Carmen Paun on politico.com on September 14, 2020.
In only half a year, the coronavirus pandemic has wiped out decades of global development in everything from health to the economy.
Vaccination coverage, seen as a good indicator for how health systems are functioning, is dropping to levels last seen in the 1990s, it says.
“In other words, we’ve been set back about 25 years in about 25 weeks,” the report says. “What the world does in the next months matters a great deal.”
Global action to stop the pandemic would prevent illness and deaths caused by Covid-19, but there's more at stake: the crisis sets back strides made in global poverty, HIV transmission, malnutrition, gender equality, education and many more areas. Even if the world manages to get the coronavirus under control soon, it could take years to claw back lost progress.