Unsustainability and Pandemics: Exploring the relationship and finding the crucial underlying factor

IAP YPL alumnus Paramdeep Singh wrote an editorial on INGSA, titled "Unsustainability and Pandemics: Exploring the relationship and finding the crucial underlying factor".

Besides having a devastating effect on Global Health, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected almost all the SDGs. In order to contain the pandemic, various countries have gone for lockdown affecting economic activity.  Though everybody is feeling the pinch of a tottered economic activity, the people from lower socio-economic strata are finding it very hard and unaffordable. As the situation is today, hunger, unemployment and inequality stand exacerbated.  Children and youth are getting deprived of quality education due to closure of schools and colleges. The reports of domestic violence against women are on the rise. Significantly women constitute major chunk of the healthcare workforce, working on the frontline and fighting COVID-19, as such they stand maximum risk of getting infected (in-spite of the precautions which they take while attending the patients).

The documented reports point out that present pandemic could lead to about 7 million unintended pregnancies as a large number of women are unable to gain access to family planning measures due to lockdown. The vulnerable regions of the world, conflicts infested areas, drought regions and areas sheltering refugees; are experiencing shortage of food and clean drinking water (due to impediments in food supply chains), inadequate sanitation and erratic electric power supply. The high population density and inadequate medical facilities make such areas more prone to COVID-19 infection.  The reports of COVID-19 patients developing secondary bacterial infections, leading to increased use of antibiotics and consequently development of antibiotic resistance are cause of concern. Apart from the above, the recent pandemic has caused a shift of focus from other Global Health threats to COVID-19 with almost whole of the research activity and action centered on issues related to COVID 19 pandemic.

You can read the full editorial here.