Doha: Forecast-based measures should be adopted worldwide to help mitigate risk and disaster management and prepare for a possible future crisis, Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) Director-General Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari said during a webinar yesterday. The virtual event titled "COVID-19 Pandemic Economic Impact on High Income Countries was organised by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Doha Forum.
The panelists included Alexander Kazan, Managing Director, Eurasia Group, Joe Cerrell, Managing Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ebru Ozdemir, Chair at Limak Group of Companies. The session was moderated by Alexis Antoniades, Assistant Professor and Director of International Economics at Georgetown University.
“As a global community, we need to focus on what is next in the long run. If we only focus on the current crisis, then other problems might come. This is a challenge for the international community to support countries that have been severely hit by the pandemic, which has affected the ability to achieve the 2020 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is witnessing a reversal.
“Extreme poverty and infant mortality are said to increase and life expectancy to fall, these are reasons to invest in forecast-based models to strengthen disaster preparedness,” Al Kuwari said. He stressed that donor countries have also been hit by the pandemic, which may affect their policy towards donating.
"The current economic hardship also shows the importance of tapping Public-Private Partnership and other models of financing. The crisis didn’t only affect developing countries but also high-income countries, he added.
"This might have an impact on the official developmental systems of these countries that usually extend foreign aid. They may be pressured to redirect their aid towards domestic measures caused by the pandemic,” Al Kuwari said.
According to Al Khelaifi, the Fund supports and capitalises on the huge potential of data and early warning systems to improve people’s ability to prepare, respond, recover, and manage available funds. QFFD also recently contributed $10m to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) led by Gavi and another $2m to support WHO efforts.
During the webinar, the panelists said the world must adopt a holistic approach to COVID-19 recovery to ensure low-income and developing countries are not left behind. They noted that high-income countries must avoid ‘vaccine nationalism’ in the race to produce and distribute much-needed vaccines in the wake of the coronavirus.
“Many developing countries don’t have the same resources that high-income countries have, which is why we need to pay attention to the global response. The longer we keep this virus out there and don’t equally vaccinate poor countries, we won’t be able to save lives and restore the global economy,” Joe Cerrell, Managing Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, noted.
Eurasia Group MD Alexander Kazan said high-income countries have a moral and economic responsibility to ensure vaccines are distributed to developing nations. He added that donating to poor countries comes with tremendous economic rewards as well. Without equitable vaccination, poorer countries are susceptible to more deaths due to the virus and a slow-pace in development.
Meanwhile, Limak Chair Ebru Ozdemir said the vaccine has forced industries to adopt digitalisation. She highlighted that the infrastructure and construction industries have had to develop innovative ways to operate and the need for workers to be reskilled.
