Juan Manuel SantosandSabina Alkire

Opinion | Don’t let the Covid-19 crisis reverse hard-won gains towards ending poverty

Leaders should recognise the crisis offers a rare chance to build a more inclusive, sustainable world, but only if we end all forms of poverty. The launch of a global multidimensional poverty index can serve as a catalyst

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A homeless man sleeps on the ground in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, on July 25. Photo: Felix Wong

Juan Manuel SantosandSabina Alkire

Published: 3:15pm, 2 Aug 2020Updated: 8:04pm, 2 Aug 2020

Today’s pandemic-induced humanitarian and economic crisis represents an unprecedented opportunity to go beyond emergency responses and address our economies’ structural flaws. Many governments’ stimulus and recovery packages are already shaping the future. But leaders should also recognise this rare chance to build a more inclusive and sustainable world, possible only if we end poverty in all its forms.

The launch of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2020 can serve as a catalyst. Recently released by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, the index shows that 65 of the 75 countries studied had reduced their poverty levels significantly within the past decade. Moreover, the country that reduced poverty the fastest, Sierra Leone, did so despite the 2014 Ebola epidemic.

The risk is that these gains could be reversed. The Covid-19 crisis requires the commitment of global and national leaders not only to preserve hard-won progress, but also turn a corner in the global effort to end poverty. This will not be easy, as the pandemic is exacerbating inequalities.

It is a “myth that we are all in the same boat”, observed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last month. “While we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in super yachts while others are clinging to the drifting debris.” It is essential that we extend a hand to the poor, with Covid-19 adding to an already crushing burden.

Using data going back to 2010, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index provides a comprehensive picture of how people experience disadvantages, measuring deprivations in health care, education and living standards across 10 indicators.

This data can help us mitigate the pandemic’s burden on the 1.3 billion people in multidimensional poverty, while preventing many others from succumbing. National governments should consider creating their own country-specific multidimensional poverty indices to guide their anti-poverty strategies.