COVID-19 Effects on Latin America

Latin America has some of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world. But why is that? Most of the COVID-19 discussions about Latin America for foreigners often focus on the Brazilian viral mutation and the catastrophic mistakes of President Jair Bolsonaro. But the region in its entirety is facing a dire humanitarian crisis, arising from political instability, corruption, social unrest, fragile health systems, and perhaps most importantly, the long-standing and pervasive disparity in income, health, and education that has been woven into the region's social and economic fabric.

· Why has Latin America been so taken aback by the pandemic?

COVID-19 has caused unpredictable devastation in Latin America in 2020. Last April, daunting scenes of corpses being dumped on the pavements of Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, and mass graves being dug in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil provided a dramatic story of how the pandemic has been unleashed amid horrific inequality and political instability.

Socioeconomic inequality is one of Latin America's most persistent problems; the pandemic has only exposed and exacerbated it. Other structural factors leading to the rapidly evolving humanitarian crisis include rampant corruption, political instability, and weak healthcare systems. Brazil, for example, spends $848 per capita on healthcare, far below the world average of $1,111. Other countries, predominantly those situated in Central America, spend even less. The informal labor market is vast, accounting for 54% of all jobs in the region (up to 70% in some countries, such as Peru). Informal workers have little to no access to social protection and have no choice but to continue working every day to earn a living. This results in their limited capacity to comply with measures such as lockdowns, quarantine, and social distancing. Informal workers also have much less access to healthcare.

Displacement has drastically increased in Central America and the Venezuelan migrant crisis has affected the region. Rising inequalities have led to internal political turmoil and social unrest in Colombia, Bolivia, and Chile. Gender inequality is also an important factor in Latin America's management of the pandemic. 73% of the workers in the regional health sector are women and gender-based violence is on the rise.

· What about political leadership and policy choices?

For instance, Brazilian president Jair

Bolsonaro did little to curb the epidemic. Many believe it makes the situation worse. He downplayed the threat of the virus and promoted ineffective and dangerous treatments. Last year, he fired the health minister after a disagreement over physical distancing measures and resigned less than a month later the next. Although the country has launched successful mass vaccination campaigns in the past, Brazil has ignored or even rejected offers to procure millions of doses of the vaccine on at least 11 separate occasions.

On 28 October 2020, at the 38th UN session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the foreign ministers of 33 countries in the region signed a political declaration on a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19. The declaration acknowledges that inequalities are widespread even in countries with high levels of economic growth. More investment in social protection is needed to reduce disparities and ensure economic growth is equitable, inclusive, and sustainable. But while this declaration is promising, it is difficult to translate political will into meaningful action.

The Coronavirus pandemic started out as a health crisis, but it has turned into a devastating humanitarian crisis.