Editorial: Cooperation needed in stopping viral outbreak in developing countries

April 9 , 2020

The world is confronting the greatest crisis since the end of World War II. While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed one serious toll exacted from globalization, it also instructs us that it will take a truly international effort to halt the contagion worldwide, particularly in Third World countries lacking in medical professionals and resources.

The Japanese government backs the World Health Organization in that assertion, earmarking assistance under its emergency economic stimulus package to developing countries to help improve and fortify their healthcare infrastructure.

Komeito is calling on the government to work closely with international agencies to proactively provide outright grants as well as medicines and medical supplies, together with the dispatching of healthcare professionals, to developing countries.

Africa—which WHO believes may lose millions of lives from COVID-related deaths—has already been targeted for the Japanese initiative. Such an effort will obviously face enormous challenges: in countries with impoverished water resources, even the simple task of washing hands will prove daunting, while other countries lack the administrative capacity to carry out concerted anti-contagion activities due to civil wars.

Nevertheless, protecting the health and welfare of African nations is far more than an altruistic endeavor—it is a crucial measure to protect the health and welfare of the entire international community.