SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Institutions: Ministry of Finance | Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
A landmark report by the UNAIDS-convened Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, Breaking the inequality-pandemic cycle: building true health security in a global age, ahead of the G20 meetings in South Africa. It warns that high inequality, both within and between countries, drives pandemics and deepens their impact, making them more deadly, economically disruptive, and longer in duration.
Evidence of the Cycle
The report synthesizes evidence showing the vicious cycle where inequality drives pandemics, and pandemics worsen inequality:
Poverty Increase: The COVID-19 pandemic pushed 165 million people into poverty.
Wealth Concentration: Simultaneously, the wealth of the world’s richest increased by more than a quarter.
Health Outcomes: More unequal countries have seen significantly higher COVID-19 mortality and higher rates of HIV infection and AIDS mortality.
Spending Disparity: During COVID-19, high-income countries spent four times more than low-income countries to address the pandemic’s effects.
Roadmap Advice
The report provides clear, actionable recommendations aimed at global leaders and financial institutions to interrupt this cycle. This is framed as a call for a new PPR (Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response) approach that is “inequality-informed”.
A. Global Economic Policy
The roadmap focuses on creating fiscal capacity and financial space in developing countries:
Debt Relief: Calls for an urgent debt repayment standstill for distressed countries until 2030.
IFI Reform: Urges the decisive reorientation of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to end policies that encourage pro-cyclical austerity (spending cuts during a crisis).
Financing: Recommends new standby pandemic financing facilities that include the automatic issuance of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
B. Access to Medicines and Technology
Local Production: Calls to build local and regional production capacity for essential health products.
Intellectual Property (IP): Recommends an immediate waiver of intellectual property once a pandemic is declared to ensure equitable global access to treatments and vaccines.
What is Pro-Cyclical Austerity Policy? → Pro-Cyclical Austerity Policy refers to fiscal policies, often encouraged by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), where governments cut public spending and raise taxes during an economic downturn or crisis. The report criticizes this approach because it undermines public health defenses, reducing the fiscal space needed to invest in vital health, social protection, and education systems, thereby leaving societies less resilient and more vulnerable to disease outbreaks.
What are International Financial Institutions (IFIs)? → International Financial Institutions (IFIs) are multinational organizations that lend money and provide technical assistance to promote economic and social development in member countries. They are established through treaties between two or more sovereign nations. IFIs play a critical role in the global financial architecture by providing funds for major projects like infrastructure, energy, health, and education, often where private finance is unavailable. The two main types of IFIs are Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), like the World Bank Group and regional banks (e.g., ADB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which focuses primarily on macroeconomic stability and crisis lending. The recent UNAIDS report criticized IFIs for sometimes encouraging pro-cyclical austerity policies on borrowing nations, which can undermine health and social systems.
Follow the full report here: https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/2025-11/2025_global-council-inequality-report_en.pdf