INTRODUCTION

3rd World Countries :The origin of term “3rd world ”is credited to Alfred Sauvey who was a
French demographer .He used this term in an article titled as “Three world one planet” in 1952 .
Originally “First World” included United Nations and it’s allies such as Japan ,Western Europe
and Australia which were Capitalist in nature while the “Second world” included Communist
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe .Meanwhile the countries which did not actively participated in
the “Cold war” were considered as the “Third World Countries .”These were mainly needy
European colonies ,almost all nations of Africa ,the middle East ,latin America and Asia.
At the present time the meaning of “third world” has somewhat changed. The term “developing
countries” and “low and lower-middle income Countries” has been used to mask the term “third
world”. Although the powerful and economically strong countries are still described as “First
World”.After the fall of Soviet Union the term “second world” is rarely used nowadays.
Some major third world countries are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Iran, Turkmenistan,
Myanmar, Bharain,Qatar, Sudan and many others.
• Kuwait-Kuwait is an oil rich country positioned at the top of the gulf surrounded by
neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.It has a strategic location and it’s oil
reserves makes it one of the world richest countries.It has a human development index of
0.804 and a population of roughly 4,270,571 and is considered a major developing country.
• COVID-19-Covid-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recent discovered
coronavirus. The virus were unknown before an outbreak took place in Wuhan, China and
it is now a pandemic affecting many countries globally.
• Covid-19 and Kuwait-Like all other globally affected countries Kuwait was also hit by
this pandemic .The first confirmed case in Kuwait was announced on 24 February 2020
and today there are nearly 53000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with nearly 43000
recoveries and 382 deaths.
Following all the necessary guidelines and curfew measures, Kuwait ended the full Curfew on 30 th
May 2020 by placing partial curfew from 6pm to 6am.This was the first phase of the total 5 phases
with each phase almost lasting for 3 weeks which could vary depending on the assessment by the
ministry of health.
In the beginning, people were asked for voluntary stay at home approach since midnight of March
11,2020 with the government suspending all the work across country except the emergency
services.The country was placed under full Curfew on May 10 based on assessment of Ministry of
Health.
A REPORT ON LIFTING COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS AND ETHICAL ISSUES
RELATED TO IT
A country can never function under a complete lockdown state.It becomes an obligation to run the
life again though with certain restrictions even during this period of a global pandemic.But, there
are various ethical and health issues which arise due to upliftment of the lockdown which are
mentioned below.
• Issues related to food
• Tobacco and Covid-19
• Health and safety at workplace
• Breastfeeding and Covid-19
• Adolescent, youth and Covid-19
• Older people and Covid-19
• Use of masks
• Violence against women during Covid-19
• Pregnancy, childbirth and Covid-19
• Mass gathering
• Ethics and Covid-19: resource allocation and priority setting
Food and Safety at Workplace
The main priority is to keep virus out of the food environment and Since Covid-19 can be
transmitted from person to person the risk of catching Covid-19 is much greater at workplaces and
chances of risk is very high.
Measures: cleaning and sanitation measures, disinfecting the surfaces and high touch points,hand
washing,use of gloves by food workers and frequently changing it as it gets contaminated by the
virus too, handwashing In general, alcohol-based disinfectants have been shown to significantly
reduce infectivity of enveloped viruses like SARS-CoV-2, in concentrations of 70-80% with one-
minute exposure time. Chlorine-based disinfectants (sodium hypochlorite) are effective for surface
decontamination, as are disinfectants with active ingredients based on quaternary ammonium
compounds (QUATS), respiratory hygiene such as covering coughs, physical distancing of at least
1 metre or more according to the national recommendations, wearing of masks where distancing
is not possible, regular environmental cleaning and disinfection, and limiting unnecessary travel,
an air in all workplaces. For jobs and work tasks at medium or high risk of exposure, WHO
recommends an increased ventilation rate through natural aeration or artificial ventilation There is
no evidence of transmission of virus through water.
Adolescents, Youth, Older people and Covid-19
Older people, and people of all ages with pre-existing medical conditions (such as diabetes, high
blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, or cancer) appear to develop serious illness more often
than others.
Measures: home deliveries, psychosocial support, alternative access to your pension, list of the
basic supplies that you will need for at least two weeks and try to get these delivered where
possible, prescription medicines, Make sure that your mobile phone credit is topped up and identify
a safe place to charge your phone regularly so that you can keep in contact with family and friends
and reach emergency services if needed.

Violence against women during Covid-19

Stress, the disruption of social and protective networks, loss of income and decreased access to
services all can exacerbate the risk of violence for women. In many countries, where people are
encouraged or required to stay at home, the risk of intimate partner violence is likely to increase.
Women who are displaced, who are migrants or refugees, and those living in conflict-affected
areas, older women and women with disabilities are particularly at risk of violence and are likely
to be disproportionately affected by violence during COVID-19.

Measures: Identifying a neighbour, friend, relative, colleague, or shelter to go to in case you need
to leave the house immediately for safety, Maintain contact with and seek support from family and
friends via phone, email, text, etc, If someone you know needs urgent help for whatever reason,
be prepared to call emergency health services, the police, health centre, or hotline.

ETHICS AND COVID-19:RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND PRIORITY SETTING

Governments, international agencies and health systems have an obligation to ensure, to the best
of their ability, adequate provision of health care for all. However, this may not be possible during
a pandemic, when health resources are likely to be limited. Setting priorities and rationing
resources in this context means making tragic choices, but these tragic choices can be ethically
justified. This is why we have ethics. This policy brief answers a number of questions about the
ethics of setting priorities for the allocation of resources during times of scarcity. Such decisions
may include access to hospitals, ventilators, vaccines and medicines. It is essential that policies
and practices are ethically justified in such contexts. The document provides a high-level ethical
framework that can be used to guide decision-making, and complements WHO’s technical
guidance. we must take into account the type of health care resource, the context, and the stage of
the pandemic. That is, while the ethical principles that apply to resource allocation might be the
same in different pandemics, they can lead to different decisions, given contextual circumstances.
For example, this pandemic appears to significantly impact older adults (those 60 years of age or
older), and such characteristics are relevant to shaping priorities for the allocation of resources
during COVID-19. As a result, it may be inappropriate to use critical care triage guidelines that
have age cut-offs that deprioritize or exclude those aged over 60 years.
Ethical considerations when deciding who to prioritize-
• Equality- Each person’s interest should count equally unless there are good reasons that
justify the differential prioritization of resources. Irrelevant characteristics of individuals,
such as race, ethnicity, creed, ability or gender, should not serve arbitrarily as the basis for
the differential allocation of resources. This principle can be used to justify the allocation
of resources by a lottery – that is, randomly by chance – or by a system of first come, first
served.
• Best outcomes (utility)- This principle can be used to justify the allocation of resources
according to their capacity to do the most good or minimize the most harm, for example,
using available resources to save the most lives possible.
• Prioritize those tasked with helping others- This principle can be used to justify the allocation
of resources to those who have certain skills or talents that can save many other people, or
because something is owed to them on account of their participation in helping others.
• Prioritize the worst off- This principle can be used to justify the allocation of resources
to those in greatest medical need or those most at risk.

For most decisions, multiple ethical values and principles will be relevant to deliberations about
how to allocate resources. This is likely to generate some disagreement, because different people
may weigh the values differently. Some may prioritize equality while others might put more
emphasis on best outcomes or prioritization of the worst-off. For this reason, it is imperative that
the different values be weighed and applied to specific allocation issues using a fair process.

A fair process for allocating scarce resources must promote certain ethical values:
• Transparency. In a transparent process, the decisions and their justifications
should be made public. This means that the population should be informed about
the criteria guiding the decisions.
• Inclusiveness. Those affected by allocation decisions – including individuals,
communities or countries – should be able to exert at least some influence over the
decision-making process as well as the decision itself. This also means that
decisions 4 should be open to challenge and potentially revisable, perhaps through
an appeal process.
• Consistency. Decisions should be consistent so that all persons in the same
categories are treated in the same way. This means that favouritism towards one’s
own family, religious or political compatriots, or otherwise, is not appropriate. All
forms of corruption that are at variance with this principle should be challenged and
condemned.
• Accountability. Those making decisions about allocation must be accountable for
those decisions – that is, they should justify their decisions and be held responsible
for them. A fair process means that allocation decisions should not be made by
individuals, by individual pharmaceutical companies, or, in the case of allocation
between countries, by a single country. Resources such as vaccines and therapies
should not be stockpiled outside the system of fair allocation.
The fair allocation of resources is one that is valuable in itself precisely because it is fair. However,
it may also be valuable because a fair system engenders solidarity and trust, which are vital to the
successful and sustained collective response necessary for dealing effectively with any outbreak.
CONCLUSION
The allocation of different resources may find ethical justification in different principles or values.
For instance, if a novel vaccine is found to be safe and effective, a lottery-based allocation may be
justified among those as highest risk, the old and those with co-morbidities, if they outnumber
available vaccines. Maximizing utility should be balanced with the principle of priority to the
worst-off: centralizing the availability of resources in larger centres may extend their benefits to
more people, but may exclude isolated populations and challenge our concern for those at highest
risk.
REFERENCE
• https://www.who.int/
• https://www.kuna.net.kw/
• https://www.history.com/news/why-are-countries-classified-as-first-second-or-third-world