A recent study published in July 24, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Wanessa Miranda of Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and colleagues reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic and health gaps between wealthy and low-income countries, hindering progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDGs were established in 2015 to address various issues including poverty eradication, well-being promotion, and socioeconomic inequality. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global health and triggered severe economic consequences.
This study explored how economic disruptions caused by the pandemic affected advancements in health-related SDGs. By analyzing data from the United Nations SDG database, the researchers studied the connections between well-being, income levels, and key socioeconomic health factors. Using a yearly model, they projected trends between 2020 and 2030 under both a baseline scenario and a post-COVID-19 scenario.
The study revealed that low and lower middle-income countries are predicted to experience economic growth reductions of 42% and 28%, while high and upper middle-income countries are expected to face losses of 15% and 7%, respectively. These disparities are likely to exacerbate global health inequalities in areas such as infectious diseases, injuries, maternal health, health system coverage, and neonatal health. On average, low-income nations may see a 16.5% decline in health progress across all indicators, in contrast to high-income countries where losses could be as low as 3%. Specific countries like Turkmenistan and Myanmar might suffer progress setbacks up to nine times higher than the average loss of 8%. Regions most affected include Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia, and Latin America.
The study concludes that the pandemic has unevenly impacted economies worldwide, leading to heightened global inequalities, especially in health-related objectives of the 2030 SDG Agenda.
The authors emphasize: “The COVID-19 pandemic significantly widened existing economic and health disparities between wealthy and low-income countries and slowed progress toward health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On average, low-income countries can expect an average progress loss of 16.5% across all health indicators, whereas high-income countries can expect losses as low as 3%.”