A global UNAIDS report says that high levels of inequality are making pandemics more dangerous, more disruptive, and longer lasting.
The report released on Monday says inequality is weakening efforts to fight pandemics at both national and global levels.
The study is based on work by top economists, public health experts, and political leaders in the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS, and Pandemics. UNAIDS convenes this group.
The report says inequality within countries and between nations is increasing the damage caused by pandemics. It also says that pandemics themselves are making inequality worse.
This cycle was seen in Covid-19, AIDS, Ebola, influenza, and mpox.
The report urges action on inequality before pandemics arrive. It says this would protect the world more effectively than current preparedness methods.
Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director and United Nations Under-Secretary-General, said that the report showed why leaders urgently needed to tackle the inequalities that drove pandemics, and that it also showed them how they could do so. She added that reducing inequalities within and between countries would enable a better, fairer, and safer life for everyone.
The findings come as G20 Health Ministers get ready to meet. This is happening while new outbreaks of avian flu and mpox are reported worldwide, and drug regulators approve new HIV prevention medicines.
The report calls for a new form of health security. It says the approach must break the inequality-pandemic cycle through practical solutions rooted in social and economic factors. It also asks to remove financial barriers so countries have enough fiscal capacity to address inequality.
The report stated that local and regional production should be built along with a new governance system for research and development that would ensure that technology was shared as a public good needed to stop pandemics.