COVID 19: A Clarion Call for Effective Humanitarian Response

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of unprecedented uncertainty for the entire humanitarian sector globally. While there have been many lessons learnt over the years in the wake of floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, communal and civil strife, droughts, refugee crises and even epidemics like SARS, bird flu and Ebola, COVID-19, because of its geographical reach and speed of transmission has posed an entirely new challenge for governments, the health sector and development agencies.  

A global recession appears to be clearly on the cards and the huge pressure on public finances across the globe would make the process of recovery much harder. Most of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries are struggling with the severe impact of COVID-19 at home and so there would be constraints for international donor funding to the developing countries affected both directly and indirectly by the pandemic. Nonetheless, it is critical that these fund flows continues even during the crisis.

In India, we are witnessing how some of the states with the best health systems are struggling to contain the pandemic in its early stages; it is not hard to imagine how crippling it would be for the more backward states with much weaker health systems. Hopefully, the lockdown and attendant social distancing and hygiene measures, despite their limitations in our context may reduce the direct incidence and mortality rates in India.