My new column on the second-round effects in the developing world of Covid-19, which are likely to be greater than the direct effects: A Cataclysm of Hunger, Disease and Illiteracy nytimes.com/2020/09/16/opi… Sadly, the rich world is myopic, self-absorbed and stingy.
Consider: The @UN estimates that there will be an extra 13 million child marriages because of Covid. That children will go blind because Vitamin A distribution is suspended. That polio eradication is set back, AIDS medication sometimes unavailable, and malaria control disrupted.
The great triumph of the modern world has been huge gains over the last 30 years against global poverty, illiteracy and child mortality. That long trend is now reversed, with a surge in extreme poverty this year.
In poor countries, the biggest impact of Covid is not the deaths of those infected. Rather it's the deaths of those who never had the virus but die of malnutrition or measles or diarrhea or TB, or who are forced to drop out of school or marry as children, because of this crisis.
There are no easy solutions, but the rich countries could help. Instead they are refusing to contribute much to a UN emergency response (only 25% raised), thus exacerbating the crisis -- and in the long term this will bite us in the butt. nyti.ms/3ksjfQe
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