Page - 521 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

521“Flattening the Curve” Through COVID-19 Contagion Containment inequalities in access to health care.17 Their structural adjustment programs in developing countries, particularly in Africa, resulted in underinvestment in health care systems, rendering them poorly pre- pared to respond to the Ebola epidemic.18 Besides IMF and World Bank programs, such underinvestment was also due to compromised fiscal capacities and regressive fiscal priorities.19 Developing Country Responses As it is likely to take some time before an effective and affordable vac- cine is available to all, it will be impossible to completely eradicate the COVID-19 threat in the near future. With no known effective treatment for the infection, as the deadly nature of the virus became clear, even in the world’s most advanced and richest countries, many countries have adopted total lockdowns, often in panic and ignorance of other options. In some circumstances, as in Wuhan, and elsewhere, following earlier inaction, a lockdown is believed by many to be needed to abruptly slow the virus spread if it has reached potentially catastrophic proportions. Accustomed to adopting supposed “best practices” prescribed by the rich and powerful, all too many governments are implement- ing borrowed measures without sufficiently taking into account coun- try-specific circumstances and challenges. Besides obvious differences between developed and developing countries, especially in terms of resources, demography, and institutions, there are significant differ- ences among developing countries themselves. 17. Timon Forstera et al, “Globalization and Health Equity: The Impact of Struc- tural Adjustment Programs on Developing Countries” [2019] Soc Science & Medicine, online: Science Direct <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S0277953619304897>; Saeed Sobhani, “From Privatization to Health System Strengthening: How Different International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Policies Impact Health in Developing Countries” (2019) 94:10 J Egyptian Public Health Assoc 1; Thomas Stubbs & Alexander Kentikelenis, “International Financial Institutions and Human Rights: Implications for Public Health” (2017) 38:27 Public Health Rev 1. 18. Waiswa Nkwanga, “The Ebola Crisis in West Africa and the Enduring Legacy of the Structural Adjustment Policies” (2015), online (blog): London School of Economics <https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2015/01/26/the-ebola-crisis-in-west- africa-and-the-enduring-legacy-of-the-structural-adjustment-policies/>. 19. David Sanders, Amit Sengupta & Vera Scott, “Ebola Epidemic Exposes the Pathology of the Global Economic and Political System” (2015) 45:4 International Journal of Health Services 643; Vera Scott, Sarah Crawford-Brown & David Sand- ers, “Critiquing the Response to the Ebola Epidemic Through a Primary Health Care Approach” (2016) 16: 410 BMC Public Health 1.