Health, Digitalization and Climate Change Hardest Hit by COVID-19

COVID-19 has simultaneously put all the social and economic sectors of the planet to the test, but the responses have varied significantly across countries, highlighting the gaps between the world’s most advanced economies and developing regions.

This is one of the main conclusions reached by a group of international experts gathered on the second day of the Annual CAF Conference, which addressed the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on healthcare systems, the fight against climate change and the digitalization of countries, vulnerable groups, businesses and governments.

The impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems has revealed the importance of having efficient public healthcare systems, as well as prepared medical personnel and access to hospital infrastructure. Thus, the current triple (economic, social and health) crisis has shed some light on Latin Americas deep inequalities, which hit the region’s vulnerable populations hardest.

“No country can solve it on its own, they all deserve joint efforts to combat this triple crisis,” WHO regional director for the Americas Carissa F. Etienne said. “Only with collective and concerted action will we face COVID-19 and be able to curb contagion.”

Sao Paulo University global health ethics professor Deisy Ventura said that public health should not be treated separately again after the pandemic, because “COVID-19 has made us see that healthcare should be a budget and political priority.”

Climate change is also one of the outstanding tasks worldwide. With COVID-19, its presence in the media has declined, but global temperatures have not.

Climate change as “a crisis can be deeper and longer than the one caused by the coronavirus without timely, properly-funded action,” said Latin American Future Advisory Council president Yolanda Kakabadse. Bogota’s Ean University chancellor Brigitte Baptiste believes that “living systems are deteriorating, which is a threat to the ecosystem.”

The pandemic also caused a connectivity issue, which has mobilized governments and businesses to innovate and meet any new challenge. The experts all agreed that the good news is that the pandemic has accelerated the digitalization process and will allow access to education and healthcare services for more people. However, to meet these expectations, countries will need to have basic connectivity infrastructure and a regulatory framework for companies to be able to offer public interest services, while keeping other key issues—such as security and privacy—in mind.

“While the region is facing an unprecedented socio-economic crisis, there is great contrast in terms of technology and the possibilities that arise,” AT&T external affairs vice president Angel Melguizo said. “Governments and businesses are innovating and this is the only way to have a more productive Latin America.”

TransparentBusiness Inc. president and co-founder Silvia Moschini said that the pandemic showed that telework, telemedicine and remote education were possible. “This change will improve economies and continuity of work,” she added.

The Annual CAF Conference will continue tomorrow, September 11, and will feature discussions on the impact of COVID-19 on democracy and the rule of law on Latin America, as well as the implications of the U.S. presidential election in Latin America and the Caribbean.