Covid-19 and global solidarity The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated very acutely and painfully the enormous extent to which the people of the world are inter-connected. The virus spread rapidly across borders and continents, affecting every country on the globe. Early on during the pandemic, President Higgins highlighted the potential for the spread of the virus to hit vulnerable communities in impoverished countries hardest. In April, in an address to a web-conference on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, President Higgins said that “while Covid-19 is a global threat, it is the most vulnerable who are most at risk.” The President pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly increased global unemployment and dramatically reduced incomes of all those in precarious employment. In countries with weaker health systems, and in countries facing humanitarian crises, vulnerable people and communities - refugees and migrants, indigenous peoples, older persons, people with disabilities and children – were being left behind, unable to earn a living or access effective health services.
“It is not a time for withdrawing behind borders. In the African countries where Covid-19 has arrived, there are immense problems. Problems such as lack of equipment, lack of funding, insufficient training of healthcare workers, and inefficient data transmission.”
President Higgins delivering his address to the IIEA, on Europe and Africa 12 2020 IN REVIEW
‘Responding to Covid-19 in Africa’, April 2020
