global health

Using AI to diagnose patients with a smartphone but no healthcare access

Using AI to diagnose patients with a smartphone but no healthcare access

Artificial intelligence is often seen as a futuristic tool—but for some global health challenges, it’s already the only solution. Dr. Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft's Chief Data Scientist, Corporate Vice President, and Lab Director for the AI for Good Lab, points to a powerful example: diagnosing a leading cause of childhood blindness in newborns.

Half the world can’t access healthcare. How can the World Bank help?

Crisis Recovery

Half the world can’t access healthcare. How can the World Bank help?

Globally, a shocking 4.5 billion people — more than half the world’s population — lack access to essential healthcare and another 2 billion have to make tough financial choices to find care. That means for the majority of people on earth when a child is sick, families can’t get medicine; when a mother gives birth, the delivery is unsafe; when people develop chronic conditions, they go untreated.

How can the world build back better public health after COVID?

Crisis Recovery

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.

“Health is a human right”: How the world can make up progress lost to COVID

Crisis Recovery

“Health is a human right”: How the world can make up progress lost to COVID

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.

Omicron variant unlikely to lead to lockdowns by governments

Omicron variant unlikely to lead to lockdowns by governments

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week with a look at the omicron variant, the Honduras presidential election, and the pros and cons of getting stuck in a UK pub for three days in a snowstorm.