Problems that low-income countries are facing due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Problems that low-income countries are facing due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus disease, COVID-19, an infectious illness first reported in Wuhan, china towards the close of the year 2019, has spread to about two hundred and four countries, making it a global pandemic. Currently, infections from the disease stand at approximately one million persons globally, with a fatality of about seventy thousand (Lloyd-Sherlock et al. 2020). However, the impacts are more severe in low-income countries, LIC, compared to developed countries. Lockdown is almost impossible in these nations since a majority of their population must work daily to afford food. Quarantine in some of the overcrowded settlement areas is also tricky. Low resources and lack of enough borrowing capacities among governments in LIC make it hard for them to deal with the pandemic (Sansa, 2020). This paper focuses on problems faced by these LIC as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, possible solutions on how to deal with the crisis and the role of the developed nations.

LICs are experiencing a shortage of resources to deal with the pandemic. For one, their citizens cannot afford personal preventive equipment such as gloves and face masks, and neither can the government supply them to everyone (Sansa, 2020). Without such, the spread of the disease will be fast and will, in turn, expand beyond the capacity of their health systems..

Second, LICs lack equipped research centers and medics. Their research centers lack some basic things like mixing reagents (McKibbin & Fernando, 2020). With these, scientists cannot carry out any research on the virus. Thus, information about it can only be gathered from other secondary sources. Again, researchers risk exposure to the virus due to the lack of enough protective gear such as gloves and masks. Thus, they are also exposed to infections. Therefore, these nations are not in any position to develop a vaccine or a cure for that matter.

Reduced movements around the country and regional lock-ups will help control the spread of coronavirus. Most people in these nations live around or at their workplaces. Therefore, locking up regions either in terms of districts will help control and contain the pandemic (McKibbin & Fernando, 2020). Educating the public on the disease through available media includes them in the fight against the virus and goes a long way in containing it.

Partnering with external disease control sectors in other governments to build the capacity of their public health systems. Through partnerships, the governments will be able to improve the capabilities of their health systems to get ready and in a position to deal with infections in their country. Partnerships also help them get reliable research information from these centers and use it either in preparation or treatment of existing cases. It also reduces costs since the two nations will share the costs of research.

The provision of protective gear to the vulnerable population and particularly the medics is vital. The LIC governments need to acquire and provide these resources to eliminate the chances of the patient to medic infections and from practitioners to their families. For this to happen, increased caution and prevention measures such as quarantine spaces for medics in charge of coronavirus patients eliminate chances of infections.

In conclusion, developed nations have a role to play during this crisis. One, these nations should provide donations such as masks and gloves. Although they are also fighting the pandemic in their country, uncontrolled spread in the LICs will affect them too. Second, Funding research and the provision of medical equipment to these nations will also aid them in fighting the coronavirus. Again, the provision of more testing kits to the health facilities in these nations will increase and encourage mass testing that allows early detection and isolation of cases. These interventions will reduce the effect of the pandemic both in the developing and developed economies at large.

References

Lloyd-Sherlock, P., Ebrahim, S., Geffen, L., & McKee, M. (2020). Bearing the brunt of covid-

19: older people in low and middle-income countries.

McKibbin, W. J., & Fernando, R. (2020). The global macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19:

Seven scenarios.

Sansa, N. A. (2020). The Impact of the COVID-19 on the Financial Markets: Evidence from

China and the USA. Available at SSRN 3562530.