For our opening blog post, Oxfam at Queen’s will be describing the impact of COVID-19 within the Global South. Eight months into the pandemic, the coronavirus has entered its second wave and has taken over one million lives globally. As we are experiencing how COVID-19 has impacted our lives, it is valuable to understand how those living in poverty are handling the crisis. It is also important to note that the factors discussed below impact individuals and communities differently and are often felt in combination with one another, which intensifies the effects felt by those in the Global South as the combination of factors increases their severity and risks to COVID-19. This adds to the importance of increasing our understanding of how COVID-19 is affecting these communities and how to resolve those challenges.
Economic
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the economies of many states in the Global South. To discuss this, we will outline the various impacts on formal and informal economies. The formal sector is all operations that operate within a legal framework, paying taxes or reporting to the state about generated incomes. In comparison, the informal sector is the part of the economy that is not taxed or monitored by any form of government. Many individuals within the Global South are employed informally, and we will discuss the particular challenges that arise from this.
Formal Economy:
Like Canada, states within the Global South have mandated lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, resulting in the closure of businesses, manufacturing and extractive practices. These closures have had severe impacts on currency valuations and have caused much economic turmoil. A primary example of this is India's economy, as it is primarily based on manufacturing and has felt the devastating effects of COVID-19. Last quarter, their economy shrank by 25%, and as a result, approximately 200 million+ people are expected to fall below the poverty line (NYT, September 2020). There are likely to be further impacts on the formal economy as state-mandated lockdowns possibly continue due to the pandemic's proceeding waves.
Informal Economy:
Those employed informally in the Global South are being affected differently from in the formal sector. Many of these individuals solely work to feed their families, and since their income is not tracked by the state, they cannot rely upon income replacement or savings (ILO, 2020). In addition to the effect on individuals, the impact on the informal economy may lead to a restructuring of several sectors due to some being severely affected, and others not. As a result, individuals will be forced to pivot and change how they provide for their families (IBID). If this occurs, there will be lasting effects upon states' economic structures in the Global South as the formal sector also benefits from the informal sector's operations.
Healthcare
Individuals living within the Global South are experiencing impacts on their health at a fundamentally different degree than that in the Global North, often due to the lack of adequate health care. Many states within the Global South have not allocated enough spending toward healthcare operations, which means that there were underdeveloped medical resources before the pandemic. These systems have further faltered to the increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the inadequate healthcare systems, here is a comparison between Ontario and the state of Somalia. Both have a similar population of approximately 15 million people and starkly different amounts of critical care beds. The province of Ontario has 1500 intensive care beds for its people and is increasing the amount dependent on the pandemic (Ontario, 2020). Contrary to this, Somalia has approximately fifteen critical care beds, and the state does not have the resources to increase the amount (Healy, 2020). Healthcare systems in the Global South were not nearly as equipped as the Global North to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has caused many people to lose their life or take longer to recover from the pandemic.
Socio-Economic Status
A trend within both the Global North and the Global South is higher amounts of COVID-19 within communities associated with lower socioeconomic status. The causes of this range from the availability of resources to the commonality of these areas being densely populated.
For example, Toronto has experienced an influx of coronavirus cases, of which many are within the North end (Yang, Allen, Mendelson and Bailey, 2020). These areas in Toronto generally have higher poverty rates, overcrowded housing and more racial minorities (IBID). This trend is seen in many regions of the world, as socio-economic inequality continues to be a factor that increases one's risk to COVID-19.
State Systems
Another trend that has perpetuated the pandemic within the Global South is the lack of social welfare structures and build-in unemployment and emergency benefits due to states having limited resources, lasting corruption and a lack of fundamental infrastructures. The lack of these structures has caused many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic since individuals aren't able to follow lockdown procedures individuals and rely on state support simultaneously, thus turning to their savings or resources that they had acquired pre-pandemic. Since wages and compensation were low before the pandemic, many families do not have the resources to make it through lockdown, causing many lasting consequences. According to Oxfam Canada, over 55 million people are facing extreme food insecurity across seven countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. The mass food insecurities are due to a lack of resources and failing welfare structures, which will likely continue as the pandemic progresses, and resources become increasingly scarce.
A second lacking system that has impacted the ability to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the Global South is the access to essential services, such as water. Many marginalized communities have suffered through limited direct access to water sources. In an unprecedented time, access to sanitation and water is more important than ever to fight COVID-19 as handwashing practices can limit the spread of the virus. It is necessary for states moving forward to prioritize access to water as it is a fundamental human right and can prevent the contraction of the virus.
How Can YOU Help During Covid-19?
Here are three small yet impactful ways you could help slow down the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic in your local community:
Sources
Gettleman, Jeffrey. “Coronavirus Crisis Shatters India's Big Dreams.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Sept. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/asia/india-economy-coronavirus.html.
Oxfam International Instagram Page, 2020, www.instagram.com/oxfaminternational/?hl=en.
“Salle De Presse De L'Ontario.” Ontario Newsroom, news.ontario.ca/en/release/56688/ontario-significantly-expands-hospital-capacity-to-prepare-for-any-covid-19-outbreak-scenario.
“The Hunger Virus: 'Abysmally Low' Funding for 55 Million People Facing Extreme Hunger in 7 Worst-Affected Countries.” Oxfam Canada, 13 Oct. 2020, www.oxfam.ca/news/the-hunger-virus-abysmally-low-funding-for-55-million-people-facing-extreme-hunger-in-7-worst-affected-countries/.
Trócaire, Paul Healy -. “Coronavirus: Somalia Has 15 Million People and 15 ICU Beds and We Are Fearful of What Is to Come Says Trócaire.” The Irish News, 22 Apr. 2020, www.irishnews.com/news/worldnews/2020/04/22/news/coronavirus-somalia-has-15-million-people-and-15-icu-beds-and-we-are-fearful-of-what-is-to-come-says-tro-caire-1912131/.
Yang, Jennifer, et al. “Toronto's COVID-19 Divide: The City's Northwest Corner Has Been 'Failed by the System'.” Thestar.com, 28 June 2020, www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/06/28/torontos-covid-19-divide-the-citys-northwest-corner-has-been-failed-by-the-system.html.