COVID-19 Lessons & OIC Role

By Zafar Mirza

On economic loss, one credible estimate put the cost to the global economy at $82 trillion over five years due to the global pandemic.

The devastating effect of the global pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 on human health and national economies will be felt for decades to come. Everybody on earth has been directly or indirectly affected, close to 437 million tested positive (we would never know the real number which would run into billions) and nearly 6 million could not survive the severity of the disease and passed away.

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On economic loss, one credible estimate put the cost to the global economy at $82 trillion over five years. Though it can never be said with certainty but hopefully after the omicron-wave the world would be wriggling out of the pandemic. As the world starts emerging out of this catastrophe, what we have learnt and how we should be preparing ourselves for any future global public health emergency, is the key question that must be occupying us.

As the world starts emerging out of this catastrophe, what we have learnt and how we should be preparing ourselves for any future global public health emergency, is the key question that must be occupying us.

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) can and should play a major role in a world characterized by the new-normal. As a second largest organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over the four continents, OIC need to prioritize actions emerging out of the learnings from dealing with the global pandemic. A synthesis of ten high-level key learnings from the pandemic is as follows;

1.         Despite warnings, governments were not prepared to efficiently respond to the pandemic.

2.         Routine national disease surveillance systems that can detect and generate early warnings for disease spread were chronically weak.

3.         Striking a balance between locking-down to minimize the spread of the disease and maintenance of economic activity was a great challenge but some innovative approaches were successfully implemented, eg smart-lockdown in Pakistan.

4.         Trained field epidemiologists were not enough and were not in the decision-making positions during the emergency.

5.         There were not enough stockpiles for medicines, invitro-diagnostics, devices and equipment for use during the emergencies.

6.         Critical care infrastructure in most countries was found to be inadequate including the dearth of critical care specialists and associated staff.

7.         Central national coordination mechanisms for coherent and sustained response were found to be weak which resulted in an avoidable misery especially in medium and large sized countries with autonomous regional administrations.

8.         Vaccine research and development capability was found to be concentrated only in few countries and majority low-and middle-income countries lacked this ability, hence the problem of vaccine inequity as has been witnessed.

9.         mRNA vaccine technology opens a whole new chapter in vaccine and biological production from which low-and middle-income countries can benefit.

10.       Health and risk communication systems were weak to deal with the mis-and dis-information and generate proactive, appropriate and timely information for the people for keeping them well informed with the evolving situation and educating them on preventive measures, vaccine benefits (and to counter vaccine hesitancy) and mental health.

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Covid-19 has redefined the notion of national security and it has also promoted the concept of international cooperation and solidarity. It has promoted the idea of individual and social responsibility because somebody not protected (vaccinated) somewhere is a potential threat to those who are relatively more protected (vaccinated) elsewhere – nobody is safe until everybody is safe.

The above high-level synthesis of key learnings from the pandemic experience can be a good guide for developing a program of action for the future to deal with any new wave of COVID-19 or any new public health emergency.

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In September 2020 while speaking at the World Economic Forum, the Director General of the World Health Organization said, “Part of every country’s commitment to build back better must therefore be to invest in public health, as an investment in a healthier and safer future.” And in this connection he highlighted 7 countries, amongst many, whose preparation and response offer lessons for the rest of the world. Pakistan was one of the seven countries, others included, Italy, Mauritius, Mongolia, New Zealand, Thailand and Uruguay.

OIC needs to collaborate with WHO in development and implementation of national action plans in the context of WHO Emergency Response Framework.

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Pakistan started early, had a highest level leadership closely involved, effectively controlled the airports and other entry points in the country, created a civil-military platform for central coordination – National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), quickly re-purposed a huge national polio surveillance infrastructure for COVID-19, ran a heavy risk communication campaign including through innovatively converting mobile phone ringtones to COVID-19 related announcements, developing and implementing smart lockdown approach, supporting poor segments of society through one of the world’s largest cash transfer programs and very proactively procuring and vaccinating the population.

Primarily, OIC needs to systematically look at the strengths and weaknesses of the national responses of its 57 members and help members develop national action plans for strengthening emergency preparedness and response capacities.

These action plans would require first and foremost prioritizing, further activating and strengthening the relevant organs of the OIC, namely: Standing Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH); The Science, Technology and Innovation Organization (STIO); and the Steering Committee on Health (SCH).

Using its leverage, OIC also needs to develop a strong collaboration with WHO in development and implementation of national action plans in the context of WHO Emergency Response Framework which is based upon the International Health Regulations – 2005.

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Financing of these national action plans must be primarily from domestic resources but some members in dire emergencies of other kinds would require sustained support. People in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia suffering for long due to manmade and natural emergencies. OIC needs to mobilize resources for these and alike countries from within its own wealthy members (Saudi Arabia and Turkey are already doing a lot) and through grants and soft loans from the Islamic Development Bank and Islamic Solidarity Fund.

Covid-19 has redefined the notion of national security and it has also promoted the concept of international cooperation and solidarity.

A major task for the organization is to quickly move and develop a vaccine self-sufficiency plan for its membership. mRNA vaccine technology can play a major role in helping OIC members to leapfrog vaccine and biosimilars’ production. Some countries have already good capacity to produce conventional vaccines, like Indonesia and Iran and some others have a potential, like Pakistan. One key learning from COVID-19 experience is that when an emergency falls, whatever you say, the resourceful countries try to protect themselves first. So, if there is no public health commodity security then the developing countries, including many members of the OIC will continue to be the secondary recipients of these goods.

Lastly, as the pandemic recedes, we need to fix our health care systems on war footing before we are hit with another calamity. Primary Health Care (PHC) based Universal Health Coverage is the way to go about it. Health security is the part of UHC. Expenditure on health should be seen as an investment rather than a social overhead.

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Without underlying well-functioning and resilient health care system, public health emergency cannot be borne and responded. Many OIC members have not paid enough attention to the health of their population.

Now is the time to “build-back-better” in the context of COVID-19 recovery planning and OIC can play a major role in assisting its members in this regard.