Vital lessons from Covid for nations and individuals

Syringe and coronaviruses with copy space. [Getty Images]

For two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how countries and individuals are ill-prepared to handle a health crisis.  The pandemic showed how our lives could be turned upside down in a blink of an eye.

Majority of people concentrate on endless battles for wealth, status and power, but turn a blind eye to their wellness and health.

In 1955/1957, Fidel Castro returned to Cuba from exile and overthrew the country’s leader Batista who had embedded a purely capitalistic economy. Castro embraced communism, something that rubbed the US the wrong way. This made the US cut donor funding to Cuba.

Castro turned to the Easterners for donor funding predominantly borrowing from the defunct USSR. Under the Castro administration, Cuba constructed world class hospitals with functioning medical equipment and adequate drugs.

He built roads and heavily commercialised infrastructure despite the lack of funding from the US.

Today, Cuba has some of the best hospitals and well-trained medical doctors and developed infrastructure in the Caribbean. This was achieved because of Fidel’s Castro attributes as a leader.

Covid-19 has taught us that for a country to develop, its leader must have a vision and conviction. A great leader inspires power and energy for a country’s development.

Covid-19 also taught us that the inequality gap between the richest and poorest is widely growing. We need to continue ensuring response plans are flexible and scalable.

You can’t predict exactly what a disaster will bring and what it will be but if you know what tools you need, you can overcome.

Covid-19 also exposed how we often take for granted the most important people in our lives. We learned that after everything else, everything narrows down to family and those people who can help us survive.

Covid-19 taught us how to take care of ourselves and devote more time to ourselves. Taking care of oneself had been underestimated for long, due to lack of quality time or stress in everyday life.

We learned that once in a while, you need time for yourself. Taking breaks from work is also important.

If you don’t take care of yourself, you will burn out. Above all, it also demonstrated to us the importance of recognising the true purpose of planned life. Another lesson learnt is that it is important to invest in a business and not depend on one job.

The writer is a lawyer and entrepreneur