LETTER

LETTRE

Global problems require global solutions

 

During the last few years, thanks largely to the Covid-19 pandemic, delivering quality education has been difficult; economic opportunities are being thwarted; healthcare workers and clinics are being stretched, sometimes severely; and world communities are struggling to achieve health equity.
    Continuing waves of Covid-19 require that world leaders respond to the Covid-19 pandemic with investments and policies allowing for equitable responses throughout the world, helping the poor. This is part of the RESULTS Canada 2022 #TheWorldWeNeed plan. For February, RESULTS Canada is zeroing in on the extreme levels of inequity throughout the pandemic response that have, in part, been caused by the interests of the most economically powerful countries.
    Global problems require global solutions and not just for the most economically powerful countries. High-income countries like Canada continue to buy up Covid-19 resources, leaving low- and middle-income countries without access to life-saving tools like oxygen, tests, personal protective equipment (ppe), and vaccines. Economically powerful countries like Canada should be investing their fair shares in (i) the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator) and (ii) implementing partners like the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Global Fund to ends AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), which are critical to achieving the mission of global health security for all during the pandemic and beyond.
    To respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, recover globally, and prepare for future threats, Canada must increase its International Assistance Envelope (IAE) by CAD$1.5 billion above the current 2020-21 financial commitments to reach CAD$9 billion in #Budget2022.
Marnie Shaw
Calgary