There are two separate points. The wider impact of the pandemic on developing countries—especially their health systems, but also other essential social sector provision—is an enormous concern, especially for UNICEF, because of the way children are kind of hidden victims of the pandemic. Although they haven't been at greatest risk of severe illness and death from the pandemic, they have suffered from extensive closures of essential services, backsliding of routine immunizations, a lack of access to newborn and maternal health care, and school closures. They really will bear a generational cost of the pandemic response, especially if investments in other forms of ODA are reduced in order to pay for the pandemic response.
The pandemic response needs to be additional to, not instead of, continued and sustained investments in health, education and social protection services. That continues to be in the interest of all high-income countries as well. This should never have been, and is not, a matter of charity or generosity. It's in the enlightened self-interest of all to continue to make these investments.
We're also beginning to see, as I mentioned, alarming backsliding in progress that was hard won over more than a decade. We're seeing the return of outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and now polio as well, which have significant knock-on effects on the health system and on communities surrounding those low-coverage areas. This kind of reversal of progress is entirely avoidable. It is a very concerning side effect of not having sustained investment throughout the pandemic.
I don't want to get too far off topic, but we are starting to see the same kinds of worrying trends in the provision of nutrition services, for example, as well.
Yes, it is a huge concern. While we know that the OECD DAC rules allow donor countries to offset some of these pandemic donations and payments against their ODA, we would strongly encourage donor governments not to do so and to recognize the long-term impact that will have on hard-won gains in health and development.