By Ximena Báez Poveda – International Relations Student

Do you know what is the key to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic? Right now, the pandemic has spread to all the continents, and there’s rarely a country that’s COVID-free. Due to this, it has become a global issue that is affecting everyone in every possible way. Since the beginning, overcoming this crisis has always come down to one thing: cooperation. To lower the economic and social impact and lower the cases of contagions and deaths, cooperation between individuals, nations, and entities is needed, and what's better than an International Organization to promote and foment that cooperation and unity around the world. Many International Organizations have adapted and created measures to help their members through the crisis, even those that don’t have much to offer right now tried to contribute to the cause in unexpected ways, being an example of compromise and global collaboration.

Dealing with an unknown virus is probably more complex than one might think, especially when every country has different problems and populations that may disagree with the suggested safety measurements. Since the start, the World Health Organization has been on top of the situation by tracking the virus from Wuhan, China, the number of contagions, recoveries, deaths per country, and gathering all the information available to share and create consciousness about the situation. Also, the WHO is constantly developing measures recommended for the people and the governments. Still, we also need to acknowledge that this crisis isn’t only about a sanitary issue; there’s also a social and economic side effects, amongst many others. A note published in The World Bank Blogs (Lakner et al., 2021) states that “the pandemic-included global new poor is estimated to be between 119 and 124 million in 2020. In 2021, the estimated COVID-19-induced poor is set to rise to between 143 and 163 million.” This rise in poverty is an example of other essential consequences to attend to. The USAID is part of the needed global assistance, being an example of a source of food and water to those families at social risk.

Currently, the world is in a critical state, and while the virus isn’t under control, we can’t move forward and attend to other crises. The World Bank, focused on development and reconstruction, has created a response to help four areas during this time. Since their function and capabilities are mostly limited to economic matters, they currently assist by saving lives by restructuring health systems and protecting those living in poor and vulnerable conditions. They’re helping save both jobs and business since these have been majorly affected and working to build a resilient recovery, especially in the poorest countries.

Some organizations can adapt quicker than others; nevertheless, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible. For example, the World Trade Organization has little to nothing to do with health, social issues, development, or reconstruction, yet the WTO found a way to cooperate. In a communication released by the General Council, they said:
We further believe that the WTO should rapidly make use of its resources to the full extent to foster a prompt, pragmatic and tangible acceleration in the global response to COVID-19, and particularly the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. (WTO, 2021, article 1.2).

International organizations have been of great assistance for the management of the pandemic. Tracking the virus, having the count of contagions, deaths, sharing information available, and coordinating with experts to find a quick but effective solution would’ve been a complex job without those entities. Nevertheless, all these efforts won’t be enough if the level of cooperation is not higher and doesn’t involve everyone. Even though organizations can take the most credit for organizing the countries to overcome the pandemic, in reality, as the United Nations (2020) mentioned in one of their reports: “Coming out of this crisis will require a whole-of-society, whole-of-government and whole-of-the-world approach driven by compassion and solidarity”. Therefore, we can assume that we must adopt a character of solidarity to cooperate for everyone’s sake.

 

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References:
  • Lakner, C., Yonzan, N., Mahler, D. G., Aguilar, R. A. C., & Wu, H. (2021, January 11). Updated estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty: Looking back at 2020 and the outlook for 2021. https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty-looking-back-2020-and-outlook-2021
  • United Nations. (2020, September). United Nations Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 Saving Lives, Protecting Societies, Recovering Better. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-comprehensive-response-to-covid-19.pdf
  • World Trade Organization (WTO). (2021, March 8). Enhancing the role of the World Trade Organization in the global effort toward the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/covid19_e/covid19_e.htm
  • Hofmann, S. C., & Sonnen, C. K. (2020, May 4). “How international organizations are stepping up to respond to the pandemic”. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/04/how-international-organizations-are-stepping-up-respond-pandemic/
  • Lakner, C., Yonzan, N., Mahler, D. G., Aguilar, R. A. C., & Wu, H. (2021, January 11). “Updated estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty: Looking back at 2020 and the outlook for 2021”. [blog] Retrieved from https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty-looking-back-2020-and-outlook-2021
  • The World Bank. (2020, November 17). “World Bank Group COVID-19 Crisis Response”. [website/inphographic]. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2020/11/17/world-bank-group-covid-19-crisis-response
  • United Nations. (2020, September). “United Nations Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 Saving Lives, Protecting Societies, Recovering Better.” [Article] Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-comprehensive-response-to-covid-19.pdf
  • USAID. (2021, March 12). “Responding to COVID-19´s impact on resilience and food security” [website]. Retrieved from https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/bureaus/bureau-resilience-and-food-security/responding-to-covid-19-impact-on-resilience-and-food-security
  • World Health Organization. (2020, June 29). “Listings of WHO’s response to COVID-19”. [website] Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2020-covidtimeline
  • World Trade Organization. (2021, March 8). “Enhancing the role of the World Trade Organization in the global effort toward the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products” [Communication] Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/covid19_e/covid19_e.htm