RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A New York Times report published on Tuesday, October 27th, outlines the similarities between President Jair Bolsonaro and American Donald Trump in driving the crisis triggered by the novel coronavirus, noting that both have a “shared contempt for the virus” and have built “an ideological campaign that has undermined Latin America’s ability to address Covid-19.”
Latin America accounts for one-third of all deaths in the world and has suffered more from Covid-19 than any other region on the planet. The U.S. is the most affected country in terms of death toll, with 225,739, followed by Brazil with 157,397 to date.
The NYT notes that poorly structured health systems and overcrowded cities have made Latin America more vulnerable to the pandemic, but “by expelling doctors, blocking care and promoting false cures, Trump and Bolsonaro have worsened the situation, dismantling defense mechanisms.”
The report claims that the two leaders are nationalists who challenge science and place economic growth and short-term policies before public health warnings. It also points out that both led to 10,000 Cuban doctors and nurses in poor areas of nations like Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and El Salvador to be sent back to Cuba. Many left without being replaced months before the pandemic broke out, undermining an already deficient health structure.
“Next, the two leaders attacked the international agency most capable of fighting the virus – the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) – mentioning their involvement with the Cuban medical program. With Bolsonaro’s help, Trump almost bankrupted the agency by withholding the funding pledged at the peak of the outbreak,” reads an excerpt from the article.
The text also recalls that Trump and Bolsonaro tried to make hydroxychloroquine the centerpiece of the solution to the pandemic, despite medical consensus that the drug is ineffective and may even be dangerous. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration discouraged the use of hydroxichloroquine to treat Covid-19 in April. “One month later, Trump announced that the U.S. would ship two million doses to Brazil.”
“In its zeal to rid countries of Cuban doctors, the Trump administration punished all countries in the hemisphere and, without a doubt, this meant more Covid cases and more deaths,” said Mark L. Schneider, former head of strategy planning for the Pan American Health Organization, who was a State Department official under the Clinton administration.
“No one from the Pan American Health Organization was here and we felt their absence,” lamented Washington Alemán, a senior infectious disease specialist and former deputy Minister of Health in Ecuador, who diagnosed the first confirmed case of Covid in the country. “The support was not like in previous years.”
“The PAHO didn’t have the tools and didn’t have the funds,” said Luis Henrique Mandetta, an ex-Minister of Health of Brazil. “The PAHO could not extend the way it needed to, and in Ecuador, Bolivia, there were people dying in their homes and bodies left on the streets due to lack of assistance.”
Source: UOL