Global resource shortages during COVID-19: Bad news for low-income countries

Abstract

The world's wealthiest countries have been gripped by resource shortages, including shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic In order to guarantee these resources for their own nation's health workers, governments around the world are bargaining for their share in a strangled global supply chain. For example, countries such as Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Kenya have blocked the export of all face masks There have additionally been reports of PPE and ventilator exports being intercepted and delivered to the country with the highest bid, aptly referred to as acts of "modern piracy"