Former British PM Renews Call for Coordinated Global Effort

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, what do you think and do you believe it’s on the way needs to be done, can be done to make this a global response?

GORDON BROWN, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Look, it’s obvious, we’ve got America first, we’ve got China first, we’ve got India first, we’ve got Japan first, we’ve got Russia first. And this has been a tendency, a trend of the times, an aggressive unilateral nationalism. But I think most people realize that this is a global economic emergency and it’s also a global health emergency. And I think people realize that unless we solve the problem in some of the poorest countries of the world, which could bring the disease back into the richest conditions of the world, we will not solve the problem at all. We need a global effort and a vaccine. We need to build up global capacity and testing equipment. We need to protect these countries so they don’t carry the disease back into the rest of the world. So, for all these reasons, people sitting at home this evening, I think do realize that to protect themselves locally, we have got to act globally. We are concerned about families, about our communities, about our country, but we’ve got to act globally if we’re going to rid ourselves of this disease.

AMANPOUR: So, I’m going to play this little bit of a soundbite from Dr. Tedros, the director general of the World Health Organization, basically amplifying what you are saying but with a rather chilling warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We need global solidarity. That’s cemented on genuine national unity. Without the two, without national unity and global solidarity, trust us, the worst is yet ahead of us. Let’s prevent this tragedy.

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AMANPOUR: Prime Minister, that is really chilling to think that the worst is still ahead of us. Do you have commitments, do you have a game plan for this G20 appeal that you have made?

BROWN: Yes, I think so. When he talks about the worst ahead of us, I mean, the predictions are that at least 300,000 people may lose their life in Africa. 900,000 in Asia, in the poorest countries, because they simply don’t have the protection that we have. They can’t do social distancing in the way that we can. There is no social safety net that allows them to stop working when they feel that their health is at risk. So, they go to work and they risk their health. And, of course, there is no proper health provision, testing, ventilators. And what problems we have seen in the developed world are even greater, obviously, in the developing world. But solidarity is actually self-interest. And I think people will understand when we explain that if you allow this disease to have a second round and a third round, then we are all going to be affected.