Norad's video: The impact of COVID-19 on global health - Norad Conference 2021

Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Board Chair, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Dr. Ole Fritjof Norheim, Professor, University of Bergen joined the discussion of the impact of COVID-19 on global health at the 2021 Norad Conference. Amanda Glassman, Executive Vice President, Center for Global Development is moderator. Covid-19 is not only a pandemic in itself, but also affects the utilization and access to other health services. Routine vaccination programs in countries have been reduced by 30% in many low- and middle-income countries, there has been an increase in measles outbreaks, access to pregnancy control and assisted births has been reduced, and access to medicines and contraceptives has been reduced, an unwanted pregnancies have emerged among adolescent girls who are no longer in school due to the pandemic. This secondary crisis is estimated by some to be several times as serious as the virus itself, especially in low-income countries. The reasons are many and complex and include that budgets in countries as well as globally have been altered towards COVID-19 efforts, logistics and supply chains have been disrupted, authorities lack access to quality information and data, and people do not utilize services to avoid being infected. What do we have of reliable data on the significance of the secondary crisis? How do we ensure that we do not fall back on the health results achieved in recent decades? How can one achieve the best results on both the primary and secondary crisis at the same time? Are questions being discussed by the panel at the 2021 Norad Conference. For more information about – and presentations from – the conference, go to norad.no: https://www.norad.no/en/front/about-norad/news/2021/the-norad-conference-2021/