“While the world is determined to leave the pandemic behind, it is estimated that at least 65 million people have been affected by Covid-19″, a problem that “on a global scale, has long not received the attention it deserves”. The point is made by an editorial published in the authoritative scientific journal Lancet which, on the eve of the international awareness day on long Covid, asks the European Union for a research agenda on the subject.
More than 750 million people are affected by Covid and Long Covid, or “a debilitating post-infection multisystem condition that compromises the ability to carry out daily activities for several months or years”, “occurs in 10-20% of cases in people of every age”. It is estimated “that one in ten people who develop Long Covid stops working, with consequent huge economic losses” and the consequence “is widespread global damage to people’s health, well-being and very livelihoods”. Often “dismissed as a psychosomatic condition, it needs to be taken seriously”. Instead “many patients struggle to obtain a definitive diagnosis” and “on a global scale, Long Covid has not received the attention it deserves and there is a general lack of public awareness”. Many low- and middle-income countries, such as India, China and South Africa, lack data.
Hence the appeal: “a globally coordinated multidisciplinary research agenda is essential to improve our understanding of the cause, treatments, risk factors and prevention of Long Covid”. However, progress is “slow due to lack of attention and resources”. In August 2022, the United States established the National Research Action Plan on Long Covid, which resulted in $1.15 billion being allocated for the Researching Covid to Enhance Recovery (Recover) project. The EU has yet to define an ad hoc research agenda and the Long Covid Europe network of patient associations is asking for 500 million euros from the EU for this purpose.
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