The Inequality-Pandemic Cycle: How Global Disparities Create Vulnerable Health Systems According to UN Research

The "inequality-pandemic cycle" has been evidenced in recent global health crises like COVID-19, according to experts.

South Africa:

Increasing global inequality is creating vulnerability to pandemics and establishing a dangerous cycle that threatens both public health systems and economic stability, according to leading economists, health professionals, and the United Nations in a statement released Monday.

These conclusions emerged from extensive two-year research conducted by the UNAIDS-convened Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, published ahead of G20 leadership meetings scheduled in South Africa this month.

"High levels of inequality, within and between countries, are making the world more vulnerable to pandemics, making pandemics more economically disruptive and deadly, and making them last longer," states the report.

"Pandemics in turn increase inequality, driving the cyclical, self-reinforcing relationship," the document further explains.

The council producing this comprehensive assessment was headed by distinguished experts including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Namibia First Lady Monica Geingos, and renowned epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot.

This "inequality-pandemic cycle" pattern has been observed across multiple global health emergencies including COVID-19, AIDS, Ebola, influenza, and mpox, according to their joint statement.

"Failure to tackle key inequalities and social determinants since COVID-19 has left the world extremely vulnerable to, and unprepared for, the next pandemic," the report warns.

The COVID-19 pandemic specifically "pushed 165 million people into poverty while the world's richest people increased their wealth by more than a quarter," highlighting this stark disparity.

Breaking the cycle

Inequality "is a political choice, and a dangerous one that threatens everyone's health," Geingos emphasized in a press release.

The report urges world leaders to enhance pandemic preparedness by investing in "social protection mechanisms" domestically while simultaneously addressing global inequality, including through debt restructuring initiatives for developing nations.

"Pandemics are not only health crises; they are economic crises that can deepen inequality if leaders make the wrong policy choices," Stiglitz explained.

"When efforts to stabilise pandemic-hit economies are paid for through high-interest on debts and through austerity measures, they starve health, education and social protection systems," he added.

These approaches ultimately make societies less resilient and more susceptible to disease outbreaks.

"Breaking this cycle requires enabling all countries to have the fiscal space to invest in health security," Stiglitz stated.

The report additionally advocates for more equitable access to treatments and health technologies between wealthy and poorer countries, calling for increased funding for local and regional production capabilities and immediate intellectual property waivers upon pandemic declarations.

Stiglitz is also scheduled to present a separate report addressing global inequality and poverty to world leaders before the G20 summit on November 22 and 23.

The Group of 20 (G20) consists of 19 leading economies plus the European Union and the African Union.