The pandemic has created ripple effects that have seriously affected health and education systems, as well as the economy in general, when the world was already lagging in its efforts to attain the SDGs.These effects, that could have lasting consequences and that we call scarring, are now compounded by other crises, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine: food, fuel, fertilizer crises, as well as generalized inflation, high interest rates and disrupted supply chains. The international community, in the 3 years that have followed the onset of COVID-19, has shown creativity and commitment to address the COVID crises (front-end loading World Bank financing, setting up COVAX, making more special drawing rights available) but this has not been sufficient to bring back health systems to pre-pandemic levels or to offset learning gaps. With significant donor funding going to support Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees and higher interest rates already crippling highly indebted low-income countries (LICs), the combined effect of other crises can send many LICs down a spiral of dysfunctionality and social tensions that could lead to catastrophic unrest and disruptions.
Authors
- Published in
- Canada
- Volume
- 70, No. 7
