Coronavirus has set global health progress back decades: Gates Foundation
India TodayThe knock-on effects of the coronavirus pandemic have halted and reversed global health progress, setting it back 25 years and exposing millions to the risk of deadly disease and poverty, a report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation warned on Tuesday. The Foundation's Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of reducing poverty and improving health, found that in the past year, by nearly every indicator, the world has regressed. Read: Scientists in UK test effectiveness of inhalable Covid-19 vaccine Alongside dropping rates of routine immunisation, which the report described as "setting the world back about 25 years in 25 weeks", rising levels of poverty and economic damage from the pandemic are reinforcing inequalities, it said. Read: Covid-19 vaccine race: Need to fund the underdogs if front-runners fail to deliver While the scene is "bleak" right now, Gates said he was confident the world would emerge from the pandemic and resume progress towards the goals on improving global health.