The prefix "pan" in the word "pandemic" means the disease exists all over the world. It might as well also mean that it affects every aspect of society. An article about the 1918 influenza pandemic in India referred to that experience as "a set of mutually exacerbating catastrophes." In the blink of an eye, a health crisis became an economic crisis, a food crisis, a housing crisis, a political crisis. Everything collided with everything else. "Mutually exacerbating catastrophes" is an apt description for the COVID-19 pandemic, too. First, there was the disease itself. Then, governments moved resources to try to manage it and people stopped seeking health care to avoid being infected: building blocks of a comprehensive health catastrophe. Consider vaccine coverage, which is a good proxy measure for how health systems are functioning.

More on This

Covid-19 Has Set World Back 20 Years - Gates Foundation Report

• 2020 Goalkeepers Report - COVID-19 - A Global Perspective
• Pandemic Makes Tackling Global Woes More Critical Than Ever - Bill Gates
• What Is Value? in the 21st Century, the Answer Cannot Be Profit Alone
• Extreme Poverty in Nigeria, Others Up By 7%, Says Bill Gates
• Gates Foundation's Report Shows Covid-19 Has Stalled 20 Years of Progress

We Can Make World Better - Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman

• We Can Make Our World Better - Mark Suzman of Gates Foundation
• New Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman Plots to Increase Poverty-Reduction Impact
• VIDEO: How This New Agriculture Tech Will Help Farmers in Climate Crisis
• From London to Kigali - We Must Embrace Change to Beat NTDs
• Saving Mothers & Babies Advances Africa - Melinda Gates
• 'We Can Save Newborns' - Melinda Gates
• Aid Can Spur 'Historic Progress' - Bill Gates