Greater inclusion will boost resilience to disasters

A LESSON from Covid-19 is that inclusive growth and greater income equality will help build stronger resilience to catastrophes. People on low incomes and facing vast disparities are unduly hurt by these shocks. Their ability to withstand them is vital not only for their own well-being but also that of the entire society. During recoveries from such disasters, countries with varying but relatively high inequality of income, like the United States, India and Singapore, would do well to invest more in low-income populations - aside from having social safety nets - to build defences to shocks.

Part of the reason that the US is registering the highest Covid-19 infections, at 2.5 per 1,000 people, is that it has the highest income inequality in the industrialised world. Low-income communities, with a high share of African-Americans and Hispanics, are at a particularly high risk. One study finds that in the city of St Louis, postal codes can be predictors of a likely high incidence of positive tests for the virus. A cloud on Singapore's otherwise effective fight against Covid-19 is that its migrant workers are showing extremely high numbers of infections.

Differing levels of socio-economic inclusion and disaster resilience across India's 29 states is having a bearing on the Covid-19 fight. The southern state of Kerala has recorded the country's lowest death rate (two out of 437 confirmed cases) and the highest recovery rate (308 of 437). It has also set up more community kitchens and relief camps for migrant workers in response to Covid-19 than any other state. Decades of investments in health and education meant, for example, that it had twice the number of hospital beds per person as the nation's. It recruited over 300 doctors and 400 health inspectors within a day of the first case and swiftly implemented a "break the chain" campaign for hand washing, sanitising, and social distancing.