Inequality is the cause of high death rates from COVID-19 in Latin America

Amnesty International (AI) on April 27 released a report showing the situation Inequality and lack of investment in social protection and public health are responsible for Latin America’s high death rate from COVID-19 and making the region the epicenter of the health crisis caused by the pandemic. .

A research report conducted by AI and the Center for Socio-Economic Rights (CESR) estimates that, although Latin America accounts for only 8.4% of the world’s population, it is the region hardest hit. economy and health, with 56.4 million COVID-19 cases and 1.2 million deaths, accounting for 28% of all global deaths. The report affirms that the countries with the highest inequality index and the lowest public spending on health and social protection are the ones that suffer the most.

In particular, the most unequal countries in the region such as Mexico, Brazil and Peru – where the wealthiest 1% of the population amass more than 30% of national wealth – have the highest mortality rates. in Latin America. The situation is similar in Chile, where the richest 20% of the population earn 10 times more than the poorest 20%.

According to the report, during the pandemic, almost no Latin American country expanded health insurance or took the necessary measures to implement universal social security mechanisms. CESR Acting Executive Director Kate Donald said that if countries in the region had acted in the decades before the pandemic, Latin America could have avoided significant human losses. Even so, governments in the region still have a chance to avert the next catastrophe caused by inequality and transition to an economy based on proactive resource mobilization.

AI regional director Érika Guevara said that although the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) recommends allocating a minimum of 6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to health, most countries are All in the region are spending less than that suggested, meaning they don’t have enough specialists or hospital beds. For example, in Peru, in the decade before the pandemic, public spending on health did not increase even though the economy was booming at the time, and Lima invested only 3% of GDP in health. In Mexico, in the two years before the pandemic, more than 15 million people lost access to health insurance. Meanwhile, per capita public spending on health in Chile is only one-third of the average of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and patients have to pay half of it themselves. total spending on health care in this country.

According to AI, one of the main reasons for this situation is low tax revenue. Data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) shows that in 2019, the region’s average tax revenue was only 22% of GDP, much lower than the 33% figure in the OECD country. Therefore, the report recommends that countries need to improve their tax systems in the direction of increasing the income of the rich, to limit inequality and redistribute wealth. In addition, countries in the region need to focus their resources on solving inequality, paying more attention to disadvantaged groups such as indigenous peoples, people of color, women and girls living in poverty. , who are hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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