Page - 15 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

15Introduction Global Health and Governance This pandemic has reinforced truths that global health academics have espoused for a decade or more. First, it is now patently clear that health is not just a matter of domestic circumstances, but is also global.56 Our health is interconnected, and some of us are more vul- nerable than others as a result. Second, for well over two decades, expert observers of global governance for health have highlighted how power and politics at the supranational level significantly shape health and health inequities within countries.57 And third, there are large global threats to health, such as climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and new and re-emerging infectious diseases. What is new or unexpected about COVID-19 is how quickly this health crisis has become a global political crisis, with the WHO at its epicentre.58 As infections began to spread in various countries, China and the WHO became targets of ferocious criticism, accused of colluding in their failure to control the pandemic early on.59 The WHO presents itself as a scientific organization governed by member countries and providing technical assistance. When the WHO began providing clear messaging in January that countries should test, isolate, trace, and treat, countries worldwide began shut- ting down their borders. Moreover, following China’s and Italy’s examples, most countries began self-quarantining or implementing lockdowns by mid-March.60 How and why that became the primary policy of government leaders is still unclear, nor is it clear that lock- downs were the most effective options, at least for all countries. In Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), lockdowns produced staggering hardships for hundreds of millions of people. In India, millions of rural to urban migrants who survive on daily wages were 56. Paul Farmer, Reimagining  Global  Health:  An  Introduction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013). 57. Julio Frenk & Suerie Moon, “Governance Challenges in Global Health” (2013) 368:10 New England J Medicine 936. 58. Stephen Buranyi, “The WHO v Coronavirus: Why it Can’t Handle the Pan- demic”, The  Guardian (10 April 2020), online: <https://www.theguardian. com/news/2020/apr/10/world-health-organization-who-v-coronavirus-why-it- cant-handle-pandemic>. 59. Shawn Yuan, “Inside the Early Days of China’s Coronavirus Coverup”, Wired (1 May 2020), online: <https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-early-days-of- chinas-coronavirus-coverup/>. 60. “Global COVID-19 Lockdown Tracker” (last updated 19 May 2020), online: Global  COVID-19  Lockdown  Tracker <https://covid19-lockdown-tracker.netlify. app/image.png>.