A Washington Post article: Will Corona Destroy Developing Countries?

Health care systems in Italy, France, Spain, Britain, and the United States of America face great challenges in light of the rapid spread of the new Corona epidemic, as they are about to exceed their absorptive capacity to receive more patients, but what about countries that do not have a health care system in the first place?

With this question, academic and journalist Brian Class started his article in the Washington Post entitled "Corona's epidemic is about to destroy developing countries", in which he highlighted the risks that will arise from the outbreak of the epidemic in developing countries in the absence of health systems that can face it and the difficulty of applying precautionary measures due to Poverty and high population density.

Horrific deaths
The article pointed out that although the number of deaths in rich countries as a result of the virus will be horrific as it is expected to take the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in the coming months, the epidemics known to mankind before indicate that these numbers will represent only a small part of The number of deaths in the world's poorest countries.

The influenza pandemic that emerged in 1918 has claimed the lives of 25 million to 100 million people, says the author, and about 12 million of those deaths were in India alone. And about a hundred thousand people died in Ghana, whose population did not exceed two million people, meaning that the epidemic killed 5% of the total world population at that time.

The writer suggested that similar patterns may emerge during the current Corona pandemic, especially in poor areas and slums.

Medical deficit
In a comparison of the absorptive capacity of the medical sector in rich and developing countries, the author pointed out that the number of intensive care beds in American hospitals compared to the population is one bed per 2,800 people, while a similar comparison in Uganda refers to one bed with intensive care per million people.

According to experts, the number of respirators in Liberia's hospitals - which are located in West Africa and whose population is comparable to the residents of Louisiana - does not exceed three in all hospitals in the country, which means that those with the Corona epidemic who need respirators to be able to survive will lose Their souls except for the three who will be able to benefit from the breathing apparatus.

The writer mentioned the opinion of the British ambassador to Madagascar, Phil Boeley, who said, "The challenges posed by the virus are much greater in the poorest countries, such as Madagascar, than the developed ones." He added that the health infrastructure in Madagascar is weak as the number of doctors does not exceed ten per 100,000 people. , Compared to ten doctors for every 295 people in the United States.

Poverty impedes preventive measures
The writer pointed out that the repercussions of the pandemic in developing countries will be multiplied, because their governments do not have the ability to mitigate the negative effects of precautionary measures aimed at curbing the spread of the epidemic, as the strict application of guidelines to isolate people may lead to widespread famine.

According to the British ambassador to Madagascar, many "families, schools, and even some hospitals do not have access to water", and that the price of sterilizers used to sterilize hands is equivalent to a full day's salary for most of the population. The ambassador warned that the humanitarian consequences would be great if the developed countries did not intervene.

The writer urged developed countries to strive to save the lives of people in developing countries, stressing that giving governments in rich countries priority to save their citizens does not contradict saving large numbers of lives in other regions at a relatively low cost.

He suggested that developed countries create a rapid innovation fund to encourage businessmen to develop low-cost medical respirators for the benefit of developing countries. He said that the rich countries in which the outbreak of the virus exceeded its peak should send medical crews and supplies to the poor countries that witness the outbreak.