Norad's video: Covid-19 and global health - The Norad Conference 2021

Amanda Glassman sums up the discussions from the panels on global health at the 2021 Norad Conference. Norwegian and global solidarity and inter dependency to a test, and have also opened up new questions regarding how best to support and fund global public goods, such as research, and development, production and distribution of new vaccines. New important platforms for international collaboration between countries as well as between private and public actors have been established, such as CEPI, COVAX and ACT-A. The corona pandemic puts the world to a test. In case of a shortage of vaccines, who should receive these first? It is widely believed that vulnerable groups and health professionals should be among the first to receive a new vaccine, but given a shortage, should Norwegian or European health workers receive these earlier than similar groups in low income settings? Is there a need to reorient development aid for health in the era of 2030 further towards comprehensive solutions to common problems, and what will this mean in terms of how it is organised and funded? What will be the consequences for the poorest countries? 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. At the Norad Conference 2021, we ask: Are we heading towards a future with more cooperation or more ‘going solo’? How can we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and are we really on the right track? Will this be the decade of joint solutions to global challenges, or are there more likely to be growing tensions and more nationalism? 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/