Showing 1 - 10 of 22
Preparing for AI-enabled bioweapons
Oped, Sania Nishtar, Published on 11/03/2026
» We don't know when the next epidemic or pandemic will hit, or where the next infectious threat will emerge. But we do know that the nature of the threat is constantly evolving. One of the most sobering takeaways from this year's Munich Security Conference was that AI-enabled gene editing has radically lowered the barrier to developing genetically engineered bioweapons. We must prepare to live with even deeper uncertainty about whether emerging infectious threats are natural or man-made, and whether they have been accidentally or deliberately released.
A model to keep multilateralism alive and well
News, José Manuel Barroso, Published on 27/12/2025
» Few would deny that there has been a shift away from multilateral cooperation in recent years. As the world becomes more multipolar, geopolitical tensions are hampering efforts to devise common solutions to shared problems, and rising nationalism and fiscal crises within many traditional donor countries are threatening the institutions on which multilateralism depends.
The high cost of cutting funding for vaccines
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 04/09/2025
» Vaccines are a vital tool that save millions of lives every year. Concerningly, the US government wants to cut funding for a key organisation that saves lives around the world through immunisation. And amid vaccine safety debates, the world is seeing rising measles cases.
High rates hurt public healthcare
Oped, Serah Makka and Rosemary Mburu, Published on 14/07/2025
» May's 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's member states -- ended on a self-congratulatory note. From an agreement on pandemic preparedness to increases in assessed contributions to the WHO, there were plenty of achievements to tout. But there was an elephant in the room, hiding behind a banner reading "One World for Health": the high borrowing costs faced by African countries.
Foreign aid, the powerful US soft power, is gone
Oped, Jeffrey Frankel, Published on 23/05/2025
» 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." When Joni Mitchell sang that line in 1970, she was lamenting the destruction of the environment, but the sentiment applies to many issues. Today, we can add official development assistance (ODA) to the list.
School meal programmes give food for thought
News, Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins, Published on 23/01/2025
» When governments adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, they pledged to eliminate hunger and poverty. But today, as the SDGs' 2030 deadline approaches, a gulf separates their initial ambition and the reality on the ground. The 2020s are shaping up to be a lost decade for development -- and the world's most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of this slowdown.
Slow response to mpox a wake-up call
News, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Published on 30/09/2024
» It feels like a movie we have already seen. A new viral strain is killing people in some of the world's poorest countries, and although vaccines against the pathogen exist, production shortages and regulatory barriers are preventing them from reaching those in need.
Energised escape
Oped, Postbag, Published on 06/07/2024
» Re: "Red Bull clan leads rich list", (BP, July 4).
Multilateralism can bring success
Oped, Emmanuel Macron, José Manuel Barroso & Mohamed Cheikh El Ghazouani, Published on 21/06/2024
» Multilateralism, we are told, is in retreat. But we cannot let retrenchment and fragmentation take over. From climate change and biodiversity collapse to the conflicts, geopolitical tension, and turbulence afflicting today's world, we know that overcoming global challenges requires renewed and strengthened forms of global cooperation.
Immunisation programmes need to expand
Oped, & Sania Nishtar, Published on 30/04/2024
» There is a good chance that you know one of the 154 million people who, over the past 50 years, have been saved from preventable death by routine immunisation. You might even be one.