Latin America: COVID-19 Crisis

October 7th, 2021

By Cemre Türkmen

Latin America has some of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world. But why is that? Most of
the COVID-19 discussions about Latin America for foreigners often focus on the Brazilian viral
mutation and the catastrophic mistakes of President Jair Bolsonaro. But the region in its entirety is
facing a dire humanitarian crisis, arising from political instability, corruption, social unrest, fragile
health systems, and perhaps most importantly, the long-standing and pervasive disparity in income,
health and education that has been woven into the region's social and economic fabric.

 Why has Latin America been so taken aback by the pandemic?

COVID-19 has caused unpredictable devastation in Latin America in 2020. Last April, daunting
scenes of corpses being dumped on the pavements of Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, and mass
graves being dug in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil provided a dramatic story of how the
pandemic has been unleashed amid horrific inequality and political instability.

Socioeconomic inequality is one of Latin America's most persistent problems; the pandemic has
only exposed and exacerbated it. Other structural factors leading to the rapidly evolving
humanitarian crisis include rampant corruption, political instability and weak healthcare systems.
Brazil, for example, spends $848 per capita on healthcare, far below the world average of $1,111.
Other countries, predominantly those situated in Central America, spend even less. The informal
labor market is vast, accounting for 54% of all jobs in the region (up to 70% in some countries,
such as Peru). Informal workers have little to no access to social protection and have no choice but
to continue working every day to earn a living. This results in their limited capacity to comply
with measures such as lockdowns, quarantine and social distancing. Informal workers also have
much less access to healthcare.

Displacement has drastically increased in Central America and the Venezuelan migrant crisis has
affected the region. Rising inequalities have led to internal political turmoil and social unrest in
Colombia, Bolivia and Chile. Gender inequality is also an important factor in Latin America's
management of the pandemic. 73% of the workers in the regional health sector are women and
gender-based violence is on the rise.

 What about political leadership and policy choices?

For instance, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro did little to curb the epidemic. Many believe it
makes the situation worse. He downplayed the threat of the virus and promoted ineffective and
dangerous treatments. Last year, he fired the health minister after a disagreement over physical
distancing measures and resigned less than a month later the next. Although the country has
launched successful mass vaccination campaigns in the past, Brazil has ignored or even rejected
offers to procure millions of doses of the vaccine on at least 11 separate occasions.
On 28 October 2020, at the 38th UN session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean, the foreign ministers of 33 countries in the region signed a political declaration on a
sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19. The declaration acknowledges that
inequalities are widespread even in countries with high levels of economic growth. More investment
in social protection is needed to reduce disparities and ensure economic growth is equitable, inclusive
and sustainable. But while this declaration is promising, it is difficult to translate political will into
meaningful action.

The Coronavirus pandemic started out as a health crisis, but it has turned into a devastating
humanitarian crisis.

References

https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/amid-covid-19-crisis-latin-america-and-caribbean-received-
2020-lowest-amount-foreign 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/coronavirus-covid-latin-america-deaths-young-
people 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/world/americas/covid-latin-america.html 

https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/67260/ssoar-2020-blofield_et_al-
Assessing_the_Political_and_Social.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-2020-
blofield_et_al-Assessing_the_Political_and_Social.pdf 

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2021/05/13/why-latin-americas-economy-has-been-so-
badly-hurt-by-covid-19 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52711458