CW1: Written Assessment

LC666 Global Health and Society

Module Leader: Bala Pokuboye-Amakiri
Student Name:
Student ID:
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................. 3
Overview of Covid-19..................................................................................................3
Discussion of the UK Response and Strategy Compared with the USA.....................4

Global Approaches..................................................................................................4
National Approaches............................................................................................... 5
Political Challenges................................................................................................. 5
Economic Challenges..............................................................................................6
Social Challenges....................................................................................................6

Recommendations...................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 7
References..................................................................................................................8
Introduction

The global health has become a matter of concern after the passing of COVID-19
pandemic. It has become important for different nations to develop countermeasures
in order to offset the devastating effects on the health of the population and
economies. The outbreak of this pandemic originated from Wuhan, China in 2019
and named as COVID-19 (Kumar et al., 2021). Focusing on the populations of the
UK and the USA, the effects were quite detrimental. Both of these countries saw
their health institutions in the shambles after the pandemic. The health sector in the
UK saw the death of 232,112 and the USA saw 1,219,487 (Worldometer, 2022). The
population of the USA is almost 5 times the population of the UK and had more than
5 times the death of people due to COVID-19. This was all because of the issues
they face in their respective health institutions and not being ready for something like
this to happen. The main reason behind this was the challenges they face politically,
economically, and socially. The main aim of this report is to critically assess the
strategy of UK for the pandemic with the USA and provide recommendations for the
UK to better equipped if this to happen again. This report will have three sections
that are overview of the pandemic, discussion of the UK response and strategy
compared with the USA, and recommendation for better strategy.

Overview of Covid-19

This pandemic was caused because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Coronovirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The fist case of the person affected by this virus was
identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019. It was declared a pandemic by WHO
in March, 2020 (Cucinotta and Vanelli, 2020). When a carrier speaks or coughs,
airborne droplets are the main way that the virus transmits. Additionally, it may
propagate by coming into contact with infected materials and then contacting the
face—more specifically, the mouth, nose, or eyes. There were numerous symptoms
behind the identification of the presence of this virus. Some of these symptoms are
breath shortness, body aches, vomiting, and many more. In severe cases, it may
lead to organ failure, pneumonia, and even death (Zhang et al., 2020). Countries
took different measures to stop the transmission of this disease ranging from
wearing face masks, using hand sanitizers, social distancing, and nationwide
lockdowns. It resulted in affecting the nations economically, politically, and socially.
Lockdowns created situations where businesses were not able to adapt with the
online working. A manufacturing industry cannot work online, supply chains were
totally broken, and many other challenges (Kapoor et al., 2021). The policies created
by the ruling parties were not working as healthcare workers were in lot of pressure
and people did not understand. Similarly, the social norms were changed due to the
pandemic as almost all physical touch was lost in the period of lockdowns.

Discussion of the UK Response and Strategy Compared with the

USA

The pandemic has presented a number of challenges for the governments of both
the nations. However, it is consequential to look at their decision making in order to
overcome those challenges. The main concern for everyone globally was to mitigate
the spread of the virus from the national point of view (Malik et al., 2020). The
emphasis will be on the global and national approach by these nations and the
challenges they face politically, economically, and socially.

Global Approaches

The UK and the USA both were following the WHO initiatives to combat the COVID-
19. On one hand the UK was the part of two international organizations like WHO
and European Union (EU) whereas the USA was in coherence with the WHO only.
With the rise of the pandemic, the UK cut ties with the EU and found them in a tough
spot when they needed the personal protective equipment (PPE) (Frowde et al.,
2020). With the cut down supplies of PPE, there were not enough PPE kits for the
healthcare workers and the patients as well at one point of time. When a nation
stops all trade with the nearest allies, this is the thing that is supposed to happen no
matter what. However, they followed the WHO initiatives continuously. Whereas, the
USA was focused on themselves only. They took almost a same step as the UK,
however it was more devastating for them because they were following only one
international organization that is WHO and they stopped working according to their
initiative found themselves in a tough spot (Iverson and Barbier, 2021). Overall, it
can be understood from the global approaches of both these nations that they were
devastated by this pandemic because they were not ready for it and they lost their
chance to fight it in a better way by not cooperating and collaborating with the other
nations.
National Approaches

In reaction to shifting pandemic patterns, the UK's national approach to COVID-19

changed gradually, resulting in a number of policy changes and actions. The
government was first criticized for its tardy reaction and vaccination plan, which was
eventually dropped in support of more stringent restrictions (Greer et al., 2022). The
medical industry was put under pressure and attempts to stop spreading the virus
were hampered by its absence of readiness, which included deficiencies in PPE and
diagnostic resources. The progressing of the pandemic resulted in the lockdowns
nationwide and other restrictions such that the spread could be decreased or
eliminated from the picture. This was the only measure that government could have
taken with the delayed response in order to protect the healthcare workers (Unruh et
al., 2021). There were vaccination campaigns that were launched by the government
based on the groups risk affinity and eventually for the general population. The
disparities in the uptake of the vaccination posed many challenges from the
demographic and supply chain issues of the vaccine itself.
In comparison to the approach of the UK that was centralized, the USA took a
decentralized approach to combat the pandemic. The nation gave free reign to the
states to decide how they want to combat against the virus. On one hand some
states were applying strict policies for the lockdown, whereas the others took the
pandemic quite lightly which resulted in so many deaths all over the nation (Fuss et
al., 2021). The approach taken by the government to combat the pandemic was
criticized by many due to their focus on keeping the economic stability and not the
public health. This downplayed how severe the virus was and created different views
on the vaccines due to which large number of people from people did not get
vaccinated.

Political Challenges

The UK and USA's actions regarding COVID-19 were mostly shaped by political
administration and taking decisions, which had an impact on the efficacy of policies
and health care results. The UK government came under fire for how it handled the
pandemic, with charges of using contradictory information, being opaque, and
disobeying medical advice leveled against it (Clemente-Suárez et al., 2022). The
confidence of the public was further damaged by the departure of important
government officials and the issue involving government agreements involving
testing and personal protective equipment. Similar to this, the COVID-19 in the USA
got politicized as political disagreements impacted immunization and health care
initiatives. The population's dissatisfaction and disorientation were made worse by
the president's inconsistent handling of the worldwide outbreak, which included
changes in communication and strategy (Barbieri and Bonini, 2021). Adjustments in
approach were brought about by the presidency of Joe Biden, which increased
vaccination campaigns and placed a stronger emphasis on scientific choices.

Economic Challenges

To lessen the effect on companies and employees in the UK government adopted a

number of funding initiatives, such as company loans, furlough plans, and package
deals for stimulus. Nonetheless, doubts regarding the viability of public spending and
the longevity of the revival of the economy persist (Shaddady, 2022). The impact of
these schemes is still reverberating through all over the UK as the nation is unable to
bring them back from the economic meltdown they had during the pandemic. Due to
the pandemic, the US population lost countless jobs and there were numerous
businesses that were permanently shutdown. To cope with these issues, the
government increases the compensation for the unemployed and issued credits for
the small companies in order to find stability for the industries. The disparities in the
allocation and availability of the monetary created a serious situation of lack of
public's confidence in the government (Bajos et al., 2022). These issues showed the
public issues in the systems and flaws in the structures set up to provide economic
assistance by the government. .

Social Challenges

In UK, there were inequalities present from the perspective of housing, education,
and healthcare was worsened by the socio-economic instabilities developed due to
the pandemic. The medical issues between different population groups were quite
emphasized by the social groups after the pandemic as they were not focused by the
government because the people were economically disadvantaged. The inequity
from the social perspective was further increased due to the closings of the schools
(Grewenig et al., 2021). Lack of competitiveness created a gap in achievements of
the students. The groups that were vulnerable were the ones that were most affected
by the pandemic in the US. The reason behind that was there lack of assistance
provision of healthcare to them. In the US populations, largest number of people was
affected by the mental health problems because of loneliness; this was also highest
in the people of vulnerable groups that were weak financially. Insufficient funds and
conflicting goals have impeded efforts to solve these societal concerns.

Recommendations

The outline is based on the how well-prepared a nation can be in order to offset the
detrimental effects of the pandemic if it is to happen in the future. It is
understandable that delaying the response to the pandemic is not fruitful to the
nations and having a decentralized approach does not work as shown by the USA. It
is better to have a centralized approach; however the measures that needs to be
taken should be before the time. For example, an outbreak is declared as a
pandemic, the countries should treat it as a pandemic because delayed response is
going to affect nations, health sector in numerous ways. It will destabilize the
economy, and will result in social issues. Another thing that needs to considered by
the nations is the collaboration, they must be able to help each other in any way
possible because it makes relations better and flow the economy in an efficient way.
This also allows them to build strong relationships. An early research of the
pandemic is a strong recommendation because the developing the vaccinations for
the same can take a lot of time. They also should be ready with the vaccinations of
this pandemic as well because it can be useful for another one.

Conclusion

This report concludes that global strategy and response to the pandemic by the UK
was much better than the USA. The national approach was also better because it
was centralized people from different states have the same thinking towards the
vaccination which was not the case in the USA's national approach. There was a
brief overview of the COVID-19 pandemic given and the political, economical, and
social challenges both countries faced due to it were discussed. From the political
approach, the UK people were unhappy because of their delayed response, whereas
the US people were unhappy because of their decentralized approach. The
economic instability it created was quite similar. There were social challenges that
showed the impact on vulnerable populations in the USA, the UK found themselves
in more grave circumstances of inequities as they were before the pandemic.
References

Bajos, N., Spire, A., Silberzan, L., Sireyjol, A., Jusot, F., Meyer, L., Franck, J.-E. and
Warszawski, J. (2022). When Lack of Trust in the Government and in Scientists Reinforces
Social Inequalities in Vaccination Against COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health, 10.
doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.908152.

Barbieri, P.N. and Bonini, B. (2021). Political orientation and adherence to social distancing
during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Economia Politica.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-021-00224-w.

Clemente-Suárez, V.J., Navarro-Jiménez, E., Simón-Sanjurjo, J.A., Beltran-Velasco, A.I.,

Laborde-Cárdenas, C.C., Benitez-Agudelo, J.C., Bustamante-Sánchez, Á. and Tornero-
Aguilera, J.F. (2022). Mis–Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), p.5321.
doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095321.

Cucinotta, D. and Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic. Acta Bio-
Medica: Atenei Parmensis, [online] 91(1), pp.157–160.
doi:https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397.

Frowde, R., Dove, E.S. and Laurie, G.T. (2020). Fail to Prepare and you Prepare to Fail: the
Human Rights Consequences of the UK Government’s Inaction during the COVID-19
Pandemic. Asian Bioethics Review, [online] 12(4), pp.459–480.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-020-00151-1.

Fuss, F.K., Weizman, Y. and Tan, A.M. (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic: How Effective Are
Preventive Control Measures and Is a Complete Lockdown Justified? A Comparison of
Countries and States. COVID, 2(1), pp.18–46. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/covid2010003.

Greer, S.L., Rozenblum, S., Falkenbach, M., Löblová, O., Jarman, H., Williams, N. and
Wismar, M. (2022). Centralizing and decentralizing governance in the COVID-19 pandemic:
The politics of credit and blame. Health Policy, [online] 126(5).
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.03.004.

Grewenig, E., Lergetporer, P., Werner, K., Woessmann, L. and Zierow, L. (2021). COVID-
19 and Educational Inequality: How School Closures Affect Low- and High-Achieving
Students. European Economic Review, [online] 140, p.103920.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103920.

Iverson, T. and Barbier, E. (2021). National and Sub-National Social Distancing Responses
to COVID-19. Economies, 9(2), p.69. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/economies9020069.

Kapoor, K., Bigdeli, A.Z., Dwivedi, Y.K. and Raman, R. (2021). How is COVID-19 altering
the manufacturing landscape? A literature review of imminent challenges and management
interventions. Annals of Operations Research. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-
021-04397-2.

Kumar, A., Singh, R., Kaur, J., Pandey, S., Sharma, V., Thakur, L., Sati, S., Mani, S.,
Asthana, S., Sharma, T.K., Chaudhuri, S., Bhattacharyya, S. and Kumar, N. (2021). Wuhan to
World: The COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 11.
doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.596201.

Malik, Y.S., Kumar, N., Sircar, S., Kaushik, R., Bhat, S., Dhama, K., Gupta, P., Goyal, K.,
Singh, M.P., Ghoshal, U., El Zowalaty, M.E., O. R, V., Yatoo, M.I., Tiwari, R., Pathak, M.,
Patel, S.K., Sah, R., Rodriguez-Morales, A.J., Ganesh, B. and Kumar, P. (2020). Coronavirus
Disease Pandemic (COVID-19): Challenges and a Global Perspective. Pathogens, [online]
9(7), p.519. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9070519.

Shaddady, A. (2022). Is Government Spending an Important Factor in Economic Growth?

Nonlinear Cubic Quantile Nexus from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). Economies,
10(11), p.286. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/economies10110286.

Unruh, L., Allin, S., Marchildon, G., Burke, S., Barry, S., Siersbaek, R., Thomas, S., Selina,
R., Andriy, K., Alexander, M., Merkur, S., Webb, E. and Williams, G.A. (2021). A
comparison of health policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Ireland, the
United Kingdom and the United States of America. Health Policy, 126(5).
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.06.012.

Worldometer (2022). Coronavirus Update (Live): 69,290 Cases and 1,671 Deaths from
COVID-19 Wuhan China Virus Outbreak - Worldometer. [online] www.worldometers.info.
Available at: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
Zhang, B., Zhou, X., Qiu, Y., Song, Y., Feng, F., Feng, J., Song, Q., Jia, Q. and Wang, J.
(2020). Clinical characteristics of 82 cases of death from COVID-19. PLOS ONE, 15(7),
p.e0235458. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235458.

Word Count: 1958