The International Science Council (ISC) has produced a report warning that COVID-19 will worsen global inequalities for another five years at least unless there is renewed cooperation agreements.
The report warns that inequality across health, economics, development, science and technology, and society will deepen globally until at least 2027.
In response, the ISC has called for the United Nations to establish a new Science Advisory Board that will help to coordinate across sectors for future global emergencies.
Council president Peter Gluckman said that without a more holistic, multilateral approach to international crises, the health systems of low-income states risked collapsing.
“We must not take a narrow view of the pandemic or minimise its impacts beyond public health, otherwise inequities will grow, and the broader consequences will be felt in every society in every country,” Gluckman said.
Analysis of three scenarios about the evolution of the COVID-19 virus demonstrated how the impacts across education, mental health and the economy were interconnected. It is for this reason, the council warned, where one policy dimension to reckon with the pandemic impact fell short, others may follow.
The worst-case scenario projected high levels of harm to social wellbeing, underscoring the flow-on effects of long-term school closures, unemployment, and a jump in gender-based violence.
"Human vulnerability is at an all time high…. Our gathering today has proved that humanity has not given up… together through solidarity and partnership we can." – Mami Mizutori – Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction at the #GPDRR2022 pic.twitter.com/Q4ON8sjre8
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Mami Mizutori, special representative of the UN secretary-general for disaster risk reduction, said cumulative policy issues risked giving rise to civil unrest.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of international scientific cooperation, even in the face of cascading environmental risks and geopolitical tensions,” Mizutori said.
“Whether it be another pandemic, climate change, or conflict, we have the chance to learn from the past two years. If not, the Sustainable Development Goals will slip out of reach.”
Researchers believe lost education as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, may extend until the end of the century. As much as $17 trillion in reduced earnings were estimated over the lifetime of an entire generation of students.
“In 2020, more than 8% of working hours were lost, equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs,” the report said.
“This has also contributed to a mental health crisis with a recent study covering 204 countries and territories, estimating that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an additional 53.2 million cases of major depressive disorder and an additional 76.2 million cases of anxiety disorder globally.”
In the ISC forecast, global food security and mental health concerns are also expected to exacerbate the situation for some of the world’s most vulnerable. Other implications of the pandemic included governments reversing climate change reforms as they struggled to overcome the economic consequences of COVID-19.
A need to strengthen diverse scientific advice systems to combat disinformation and boost trust in science was also needed. The researchers said that without doing so, it would continue to be difficult to protect societies from acute health risks and the breakdown of social cohesion.
The paper, ‘Unprecedented and Unfinished – COVID-19 and Implications for National and Global Policy’, was published in May.
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