COVID-19 has spread from a health crisis to an economic crisis to a societal crisis in a matter of months. But we know what we need to find our way out of this crisis and build back stronger and more prepared. Experts have the facts, science, data, and advice to tackle this crisis — and global leadership should follow that advice.
Here’s recommendations from 10 leading experts on what it will take to tackle COVID-19.
On vaccines
If a country takes an...
Health
Activists gather virtually for the International AIDS Conference, Sudan bans female genital mutilation, and the latest US funding bill fails to deliver global COVID-19 response funds.
Here are six stories you might have missed this month.
COVID-19 could wipe out equality gains for women at work
The COVID-19 pandemic could wipe out “the modest progress” made on gender equality in the workplace, warns the International Labour Organization (ILO). The drop in global working hours is “significantly worse than previously estimated” earlier this...
Depending on how you look at it, data on the HIV/AIDS epidemic can tell two very different stories. On the one hand, the world has made huge progress against HIV/AIDS. For example, over two thirds of all people living with HIV are receiving treatment. On the other hand, there are still way too many people contracting HIV, and donor funding is the same as it was a decade ago.
No matter how you look at it, the story is far...
Erin Stuckey is programme officer for polio eradication at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We interviewed them as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what they had to say.
We’ve seen the way that COVID has been going around the globe, and actions taken on the individual level and by a country definitely have a ripple effect. It’s scary to see that, but it’s heartening as well, as a reminder of the fact that we’re all connected...
Jan Egeland is secretary general of the Norweigian Refugee Council. We interviewed him as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say.
There are currently 80 million people around the world who have been driven out of their homes by violence and conflict.
The Norwegian Refugee Council is one of the frontline responders to refugees and displaced people, and we have to do more for this group now during the COVID-19 pandemic than we ever have...
Professor Tim Spector is head of the department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London. We interviewed him as as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say in the interview.
A few months ago, we launched a symptom study app that has gained amazing traction. More than 3.2 million people have given us data in the UK and another half a million in the US and Sweden.
This showed us there are...
Dr. Grace Ogiehor-Enoma is the head hospital administrator at New York Presbyterian Queens and executive director of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic campaign.
Here’s some of what she had to say.
The hospital I work at has been an epicentre of COVID-19. Before this, we may have had 30 patients in the emergency room, but during the surge of COVID, we were having 150 to 200.
Thankfully, over the past...
Tsion Firew is a doctor of emergency medicine at Columbia University. We interviewed her as as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what she had to say in the interview.
During my career I’ve focused a lot on global health work — from serving as a medic in Iraq during the war, to being on the front line in Mosul during the fight against ISIS.
When people talk to me about coronavirus and say: “This is like a battle...
Raj Mariwala is the director of Mariwala Health Initiative, which supports organisations in India to provide mental health services to all. We interviewed them as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what they had to say.
COVID has shown a lot of the fault lines in our health systems, particularly around leaving people behind.
We’re only as strong as the system is. So if it’s built for a certain type of person, and we know that COVID affects marginalised...
Amid growing rates of coronavirus infections, the UN warns of COVID’s impact on refugees and on global food security.
But two pieces of good news: the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ended, and the world came together to support crucial vaccine efforts. Here are six stories you may have missed this month.
DRC’s deadliest Ebola outbreak declared officially over
After nearly two years and 2,280 deaths, the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history is over, the World Health...