Estimate of the burden of disease caused by tuberculosis, 2018

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time.Spreading to nearly every country in the world, it is generating major economic and social costs with potential longlasting scars.Governments of Asia-Pacific countries and territories have acted swiftly in the face of already tight fiscal constraints.Radical measures forced the shutdown of entire sectors and imposed restrictions on mobility.While these efforts are vital to suppress transmission and save lives, they also had the unwanted effect of driving economies into recession, causing sharply rising unemployment and growing poverty.The pandemic has inflicted real suffering, with a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable populations.In order to overcome this crisis, countries and territories should continue to provide support to individuals, households and companies impacted by the crisis while at the same time invest in building resilient health systems to face future pandemics and other shocks.Investments should address risk factors, create adaptable surge capacity, strengthen the health workforce, as well as continue to share experiences to facilitate mutual learning to a relatively unknown disease. Support a sustained economic recovery while further strengthening health systemsCOVID-19 is much more than a public health crisis, as it has rapidly evolved into a major global economic crisis.Every day, people are losing jobs and income, with no way of knowing how long this new normal will continue and what the new future will look like.In this context, solving the health crisis remains a precondition for solving the associated economic and social crisis.Governments in the Asia-Pacific region should implement policies that support a sustained recovery from COVID-19 in the coming years, including building strong and resilient health systems, capable of anticipating, absorbing, adapting, and recovering from major shocks in the future.Digital health technologies offer huge opportunities to support better care, disease surveillance and research.With the Asia-Pacific region a main driver of the technological revolution, digitalisation policies can be key to unlocking a sustained recovery from COVID-19.Yet, it is also a region with a significant digital divide, with less than 14% of the population connected to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet.People who remain unconnected are usually those living in rural communities, the poor and women.Scaling up and sustaining investments to increase Internet affordability, accessibility and speed will help modernise health systems in the region, and act as a driving force to breakdown remaining barriers to achieving universal health coverage (UHC).It is imperative that we harness lessons from the pandemic to better manage future health shocks.COVID-19 revealed how many countries were caught by surprise.It points to the need for sustained investment in health system preparedness to major public health crises; in prevention, to build healthier and stronger populations; and in health services that can address the needs of people directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic.With the right policy focus and investment, countries