COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on global health but the inequitable consequences have been as expected. As the pandemic has exploited and exacerbated pre-existing disparities within and between countries, it has led to a renewed focus on the meaning of global health equity. The intersection between the harm caused by the virus and the reverberations associated with acute social disruption and the probable long-term consequences for learning, health, health systems resilience, equity and economic prosperity require us to reconsider how we define and value global health in the wake of the pandemic.