Wealthy countries' response to COVID-19 in poor countries "grossly inadequate and dangerously short-sighted": UN aid chief
Wealthy countries have not responded adequately to help developing nations tackle Covid-19, said a United Nations official in change of humanitarian aid on Thursday.
Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, criticized the world’s wealthy, industrialize countries for their failure to support “fragile and low-income countries.”
“The response of wealthy nations so far has been grossly inadequate and dangerously short-sighted,”he continued.
His harsh rebuke came as he called on the Group of Twenty, or G20, to step up their support, as he issued an updated $10.3 billion appeal to combat Covid-19 in 63 low-income countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America. The appeal has been upwardly revised twice, since it was first launched in late March. Only about 10 percent of that goal, or $1.7 billion has been raised in the ensuing months.
But the “havoc” that is about to descend because of the fallout from coronavirus, including a global recession, doesn’t have to happen, said Lowcock.
“It doesn’t have to be like this – this is a problem that can be fixed with money from wealthy nations and fresh thinking from the shareholders of international financial institutions and supporters of UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and NGOs,” explained the UN under-secretary-general.
According to the World Health Organization, there were more than 13 million cases of coronavirus worldwide and almost 580,000 deaths as of Thursday.
Humanitarians like Mr. Lowcock fear a cascade of human tragedies that are far worse than the health affects of COVID-19 could befall developing countries if rich countries don’t act decisively to help now.
In a report entitled “Global Humanitarian Response Plan COVID-19”, the UN warns that: “Without action, we’ll see the first increase in global poverty since 1990 and 270 million people facing starvation by the end of the year. ”
Lowcock also echoed that warning saying, “The prospect of cascading crises more brutal and destructive than anything the virus alone can do must jolt us all out of our comfort zone.”