Surviving the next pandemic could depend on where you live

Surviving the Next Pandemic Could Depend on Where You Live

A new global report highlights how rising inequality is increasing the world’s susceptibility to pandemics, making them deadlier, costlier, and more prolonged. The impact of pandemics can vary significantly depending on geographic location.

Released ahead of the G20 meetings in Johannesburg, South Africa, the study reveals that unequal access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment exposes millions to greater health risks.

The report, launched by UNAIDS—the global agency committed to ending AIDS and HIV—shows that inequality not only worsens the spread and consequences of diseases but also weakens the global ability to prevent and respond to outbreaks effectively.

Breaking the Inequality–Pandemic Cycle

Titled Breaking the inequality–pandemic cycle: building true health security in a global age, the report calls for a fundamental rethink of “health security.” The data demonstrate that pandemics increase inequality, creating a self-reinforcing cycle evident in the aftermath of COVID-19, AIDS, Ebola, Influenza, mpox, and more.

The research was conducted by the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, co-chaired by Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, former First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos, and epidemiologist Professor Sir Michael Marmot.

“Inequality is not inevitable."

The council concludes that pandemics and inequality are intertwined in a vicious cycle, each worsening the other and threatening global stability and progress.

Key Findings

Inequality makes pandemics deadlier and harder to contain.
Access to basic services like healthcare and housing is deeply uneven worldwide.
The cycle of inequality and pandemics undermines efforts to build resilient global health security.

Call to Action

The report urges a shift in global health security policies to address root causes of inequality to better protect populations from future pandemics.

Author's summary: This report exposes how inequality intensifies the impact of pandemics, urging a global overhaul of health security to break the ongoing cycle threatening society’s well-being.

UN News — 2025-11-04