‘Viruses love a patchwork response’ – campaigner urges global response to pandemic

There needs to be a globally co-ordinated response to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, the chief executive of the One Campaign, the anti-poverty group, has said.

Gayle Smith, a specialist in responding to global health crises in her role as a White House adviser to then-US president Barack Obama and administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, warned that Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, would hurt the poorest communities most.

Ms Smith said that co-ordinated action was required to be able to respond to infection hotspots around the globe and to catch what she described as “a moving target”.

“None of us are safe until everyone is safe. Until everyone cancels this risk, we are all still at risk,” she told The Irish Times in a telephone interview from the US.

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Humanitarian aid

The One Campaign, founded by U2 frontman Bono, has called for a global pandemic response plan that includes humanitarian aid “on a scale not seen in decades”, supports for people worst-hit economically, and stronger health systems to prevent another pandemic.

Such a co-ordinated plan was needed from an epidemiological point of view and was “much cheaper than the hodge-podge approach we have now,” she said.

“Viruses love a patchwork response. Viruses love it when you come at them with tactics but not a strategy. If the virus is moving faster than we are, then it is winning,” she said.

Ms Smith warned that Covid-19 “hits hardest at those who have the fewest buffers” and that the poorest communities faced the greatest threat from the virus.

“Our poor communities, those people who depend on day-to-day jobs, don’t have access to healthcare, are being hit much harder than the rest of us,” she said.

“Some people can’t afford to stay home; some people stay in a house with 10 people in it.”

Fallout

She said that "huge, bold economic support interventions" were required in Africa to deal with the fallout from the economic crisis caused by the virus, and the devastating effect on casual workers, particularly in tourism.

Ms Smith expressed concern about the capacity of Africans living in cramped conditions to self-isolate to prevent the spread of the virus.

“You have got a denser population and greater levels of poverty. What is an obligation for us is an impossibility for millions in Africa,” she said.

The anti-poverty campaigner said that she learned from her work on the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that it was essential to stay ahead of the virus to prevent outbreaks.

Protecting frontline healthcare and aid workers with protective equipment was also “an absolute priority”, she said.