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How can the world build back better public health after COVID?
Every year, over ten million people globally die from high blood pressure, more than all infectious diseases combined. Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control, is tackling this massive problem in public health, among many others, as CEO of Resolve to Save Lives.
He told GZERO’s Tony Maciulis that ensuring easy access to three drugs — amlodipine for blood pressure, metformin for blood sugar, and atorvastatin for cholesterol — could save tens of millions of lives over the next quarter century for just a penny per pill.
It’s part of a set of goals Frieden calls the three Rs: Renaissance in public health, robust primary healthcare and resilient populations. But as the developing world takes on more and more public debt, where will the money come from?
See more from Global Stage.
Ian Explains: Is the world better today thanks to human progress?
Human progress doesn’t have a finish line.
Our body clocks stop ticking at some point, but that’s not the same as reaching a destination, or achieving a goal. So how do we—as a community, as a country...as a world—define progress? What does “better” even look like?
In a word: laundry.
In 1920, the average American spent 11.5 hours a week doing laundry (and that average American was almost always a woman). By 2014, the number had dropped to 1.5 hours a week, thanks to what renowned public health scholar Hans Rosling has called QUOTE "greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution,”: the washing machine. By freeing people of washing laundry by hand, this new technology allowed parents to devote more time to educating their children, and it allowed women to cultivate a life beyond the washboard.
So, as I always say to myself whenever I’m stuck in traffic or on hold with customer service, there has never been a better time to be alive. And yet...And yet...And yet... War in Europe. Famine in Africa. Global pandemics. Fake news. Conspiracy theories. Democracy dying in the bright light of day. And that’s just your average Tuesday. So how much is technology making our lives better, and how much is a part of the problem?
Watch the GZERO World episode: Is life better than ever for the human race?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.
“Health is a human right”: How the world can make up progress lost to COVID
The state of public health in the developing world bears some deep scars from the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past three years, immunization rates have dropped to levels not seen in three decades. 2 billion people are facing "catastrophic or impoverishing" health spending worldwide according to the World Health Organization. And governments in the Global South are taking on more and more debt at the expense of investment in health and social services.
Kate Dodson, the Vice President of Global Health Strategy at the UN Foundation, is on the frontlines of the fight to give the most vulnerable people in the world access to proper healthcare. She works to connect experts and innovators with the UN, and find resources to support their work.
She’s calling on governments to invest in basic elements of public health, including primary care access, and properly remunerating healthcare workers — the majority of whom are women, worldwide. And more fundamentally, she wants leaders to treat health as a human right that all deserve to enjoy.
More from Global Stage: https://www.gzeromedia.com/global-stage/
- Can surveillance prevent the next pandemic? ›
- Highlights from our live discussion on post-pandemic health security ›
- Eris on the rise ahead of predicted fall COVID wave ›
- China's COVID lockdowns made its people depressed and hurt its economy ›
- Ian Explains: Is the world better today thanks to human progress? - GZERO Media ›
- How can the world build back better public health after COVID? - GZERO Media ›
- Is life better than ever for the human race? - GZERO Media ›
A medical worker administers a nasal swab to a patient at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing center
Hard Numbers: COVID hospitalizations, fiery moves, banking job cuts, traffic jams
21.6 & 7: Data from the CDC and Canada’s government show that, since last week, COVID-19 hospitalization rates have risen in the US and Canada by 21.6% and 7%, respectively. The Canadian number seems low, but it follows an 11% increase the week before, putting hospitalizations 20% percent higher than they were last year. Both countries are seeing increases in positive cases – early signals that a fall COVID wave could be approaching while updated booster shots are still weeks away.
13: Following the wildfire summer from hell and the smoky conditions of the past two years,13% of Canadians say they would consider relocating to a place that feels safer, according to a new Angus Reid survey. Many have seen their health problems worsen because of the poor air quality during this record-breaking wildfire season.
2: The Royal Bank of Canada, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s most valuable company, is cutting 2% of its workforce – despite making Q3 profits that towered over the other Big Six banks. Following an earlier cut in May, it has just announced that it will cut another 2% of its workforce this quarter. It cites overhiring and the need to set aside capital for potential credit losses due to rate hikes.
199 vs. 236: This could drive folks crazy. Drivers in Toronto spend 199 hours a year in rush hour traffic, and in New York City, they can expect to spend a whopping 236 hours stuck idling each year. Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently criticized Toronto’s traffic during an interview for his “Mission Impossible” (he shot the movie there) tour. But, according to this study by the UK’s Nationwide Vehicle Contracts, Cruise’s mission would’ve been even more impossible in the Big Apple.Medical profession administers a COVID-19 test
Eris on the rise ahead of predicted fall COVID wave
A new COVID subvariant, EG.5 or Eris, is on the rise in the US and Canada. The World Health Organization has classified it a variant of interest and is monitoring it in the run-up to autumn, when students head back to school and people spend more time indoors.
The WHO compares it to other current variants and says it poses a low risk. In the US, where Eris accounts for 17% of COVID cases nationwide, experts are telling people to keep an eye on it. It’s also on the rise in Canada, where it’s predicted to be responsible for 36% of cases this month. The country’s new health minister, Mark Holland, says he is monitoring the situation “very closely.”
In recent weeks, COVID hospitalizations have increased globally, blamed in part on the more-contagious Eris. With some speculating that the fall uptick in cases has already arrived, autumn boosters are still on their way … and there’s no guarantee people will line up to get them. The CDC reports that as of May, 85.8% of the US population aged 5 and older have had at least one vaccine, 73.5% have had two doses, and only 18% have received the bivalent booster.
Health Canada reports that 83.2% of Canadians have had at least one dose, with 80.5% completing the series. Based on the latest data, in the last six months, only 5.7% of Canadians completed their primary series of vaccines or received a booster as of June 23 (figures exclude Quebec).
The rub: COVID jabs are not front of mind for most folks, and health authorities hope that will soon change.
The fall booster, due in late September, is a new formulation targeting XBB variants. Canada recommends getting a fall shot and is providing boosters to those who want one. The US government, meanwhile, will no longer pay for public COVID vaccines. It’s moving to a commercialized model, but Moderna has promised to offer shots for free to uninsured Americans.Aftermath of a Russian missile strike, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
Hard Numbers: Russia's deadly hit in central Ukraine, pandemic money vanishes, AI comes to Jesus, DRC refugee camp attacked, Russian birds on “strike”
10: At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Russian forces hit a number of civilian buildings in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. An industrial hub, Kryvyi Rih had already been impacted by last week’s dam breach, prompting authorities to instruct residents to consume less water because of a drop in supplies.
400 billion: Did the pandemic lead to the biggest grift in US history? An Associated Press analysis found that at least $400 billion in US federal COVID relief funds were either stolen or lost. That’s about 10% of all US federal pandemic funds, and it’s about equal to the GDP of Hungary or Greece. As Washington scrambled to pump cash to vulnerable businesses and individuals, oversight fell apart – fraudsters posing as dead people even got some of the money.
45: At least 45 people were killed in an attack on an internally displaced persons camp in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Local officials blamed CODECO, a coalition of militias that has frequently attacked IDP camps. The country, wracked by numerous civil conflicts since the 1990s, is home to more than 5 million IDPs, the largest number in Africa.
300: Can there be Deus IN Machina? More than 300 churchgoers in Germany recently attended a sermon – replete with biblical quotes and prayers – led by an AI that was personified by four humanoid avatar “priests” projected on a screen. The AI priests’ creator, a 29-year old Viennese theologian who used ChatGPT, says he wants AI to help human clerics expand their reach and scholarship, not replace them.
82: Incidents in which Russian airliners were damaged by bird strikes have soared 82% so far this year. That’s according to a leaked letter from the head of Russia’s civil aviation service, which warns of “serious problems” in airport functioning (source in Russian). Some experts have suggested war-related shortages of funding, manpower, or equipment could be to blame. But what if the birds are just very pro-Ukrainian?
Students from the Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., hold hands after getting off a bus to meet their parents at the reunification site following a mass shooting.
Hard Numbers: Nashville school shooting, Rohingya flee to Indonesia, Deutsche disruption, America’s tumbling tolerance, white-collar AI wipeout
6: Six people, including three young children and three adults, were killed on Monday at the Covenant School, a private Christian primary school in Nashville, Tenn. Audrey Hale, a former student, was identified as the shooter. The 28-year-old was shot and killed by police during the attack, the 130th mass shooting in the US this year.
184: That’s how many Rohingya refugees landed in Indonesia’s western Aceh province on Monday. Each year, asylum-seekers flee persecution in Myanmar by making the treacherous voyage through the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to reach Muslim-majority Indonesia or Malaysia.
24: Transportation across Germany ground to a halt Monday in the country’s largest walkout in decades. Unions called a rare 24-hour strike to press for a double-digit rise wage hike amid soaring inflation — partly due to Germany kicking its Russian natural gas habit over the war in Ukraine.
58: So much for loving thy neighbor. A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds that just 58% of Americans believe that tolerance for others is very important, down from 80% four years ago. People in the US now prioritize money more than patriotism and religion. Why? Experts cite the economy, COVID, and fractured politics.
300 million: Generative artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT — which can create human-like content — could put a whopping 300 million people out of work within a decade in big economies. According to Goldman Sachs, lawyers and administrative staff are the most at risk, and two-thirds of jobs in the US and Europe could be exposed to some form of automation.
Silicon Valley Bank collapse: Not 2008 all over again
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
With the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, is it 2008 all over again?
There's one very clear way that it's not, which is that it's not a big enough crisis for people to come together. And remember, after 2008, everyone understood that we needed to do everything possible to get the markets functioning, get trust in the system again, and avoid a great depression. Nobody's saying that right now. And it's not just because the US political system is more divided, it's also because people feel like it's fine to go after the "woke" banks. It's fine to go after the Trump era deregulation around the medium size banks. And everyone can point at their favorite villain while you don't really need to do a hell of a lot beyond the bazooka that Secretary Yellen threw at SVB and Signature Bank this weekend. So no, in that regard, it's very much not 2008 all over again. In some ways I'm happy about that and other ways I'm not.
As China reopens to tourism, is COVID finally behind us?
Well yeah, in the sense that we can travel everywhere. I mean, the fact that you haven't been able to go to China for three years now. First because of COVID, then because of zero-COVID policies is a real problem. I mean, engaging with Chinese policy leaders, corporate leaders on a Zoom, you're just not getting a lot of information. And Munich Security Conference was the first time I met with a senior Chinese delegation face-to-face, aside from China's then ambassador, now foreign minister to Washington in three years. So I mean, just my level of understanding of what the hell is going on in China is significantly less than I need it to be. And now that we can all start going to China again, that's a really big deal. So I think that makes COVID behind us. Of course, long COVID isn't behind us. And this is a permanent disease that, in terms of COVID's reality, people are still going to die from this thing, but in terms of treating it like a pandemic, yeah, I think it's pretty clear that that we are over and done with and I'm glad to say it.
Will the AUKUS deal shift the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region?
No, I don't think so. I mean, it's a big deal for the Americans to be sharing advanced nuclear technology and hardware with the Australians, something the Americans wouldn't have done before. That is in part a growing concern about China. By the way, it's also potentially an intelligence risk because Australian level of security around their intelligence and information and their susceptibility to espionage from Beijing is a lot higher than that of the United Kingdom, than that of the United States. So there is a risk on board with that, but no, I think the important thing is that the Americans are continuing to focus on what is really a pivot towards Asia, more military equipment, more economic engagement, and of course, more concern of American allies and partners all across the region that they need the Americans from the security perspective, even as China becomes the critical economic partner. So that I think is important incrementally, strategically, but I wouldn't say AUKUS is the big mover, this week's San Diego meeting notwithstanding.
- SVB collapse: Don’t say the B-word ›
- Yellen brings bazooka to stop SVB contagion ›
- China-US tensions over COVID origins & Russia's war ›
- COVID ain't over ›
- Hard Numbers: Colombia's grim record, Ukraine reconstruction planning, Chinese beach tourists, India's strong arm ›
- What We’re Watching: Battle for Bakhmut, Xi’s diplomatic muscle, AUKUS sub deal ›
- Who does Washington blame for the Silicon Valley Bank collapse? - GZERO Media ›
- Ian Explains: Banking turmoil and the panic pandemic - GZERO Media ›