Already neglected groups will suffer more in COVID-19 pandemic —Doctors Without Borders official

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will hit already neglected groups harder and expose existing inequalities in the world's health systems, an official of international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.

"This pandemic is exposing our collective vulnerability. The powerlessness felt by many of us today, the cracks in our feeling of safety, the doubts about the future," Jonathan Whittall, director of the MSF's analysis department in Brussels, Belgium, said in an opinion piece.

"These are all the fears and concerns felt by so many in society who have been excluded, neglected or even targeted by those in positions of power," he said.

The World Health Organization has recorded more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 18,000 deaths from the disease globally as of Wednesday.

In the Philippines, 707 people have been infected, 45 have died, and 28 have recovered as of Thursday.

Whittall wrote that the pandemic will expose inequalities like the "exclusion" of some groups from accessing health care due to legal status or other factors that "make them a target of the state," the "under-investment" in free public healthcare, the "failure of governments" to meet their people's needs, and the "life-threatening vulnerabilities caused by displacement, violence, poverty and war."

He said the people who will "especially suffer" are those fleeing or are trapped in conflict zones, cannot afford privatized health care or stock up on food, or who are underpaid, overworked, deprived of sick leave, or unable to work from home.

He added that many health systems "have already been hammered to breaking point by war, political mismanagement, under-resourcing, corruption, austerity and sanctions."

"COVID-19 is demonstrating how policy decisions of social exclusion, reduced access to free healthcare, and increased inequality will now be felt by all of us. These policies are the enemy of our collective health," Whittall wrote.

He said the MSF will focus its response on the most vulnerable and neglected groups.

Several private hospitals in the Philippines have announced they have reached or exceeded full capacity in handling COVID-19 patients. Doctors have reported shortages in personal protective equipment, a worldwide supply problem that the WHO said is endangering lives.

At least nine Filipino doctors have died due to COVID-19.

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Luzon under strict quarantine, imposing sweeping restrictions on travel and allowing residents to go out of their homes for essential tasks like buying supplies. Mass gatherings have been prohibited and public transportation suspended until midnight of April 13.

The National Economic and Development Authority said the month-long lockdown could threaten the jobs of as many as one million workers.

Congress has granted the president the power to realign public funds under a law providing for, among others, a monthly allowance of P5,000 to P8,000 for low-income Filipino households while the quarantine is imposed over Luzon and other areas.

The labor department earlier set up financial assistance programs for workers affected by the lockdown. —LDF, GMA News