News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that there are essentially two sides to handling the chaos in the health system: trust the government to fulfil his part of the social contract, and rely on solidarity and self-help. In Kyrgyzstan, COVID-19 led to a strong surge of solidarity. Thousands of volunteers got […]
South Africa is at a crossroads. It is a phrase that has so often been used to describe the myriad of challenges the country has faced over the years: the struggles against apartheid, the dawn of democracy or the scandal-ridden decade under former president Jacob Zuma. Through much of these […]
COVID-19 attacks the human body, but it is largely the body politic that defends us against it. While we wait for vaccines and treatments, we depend on health systems, governments, and the actions of others to detect the virus, control its spread, and break the chain of infection. But our […]
The devastating toll of the coronavirus pandemic has ignited a debate about the intersection of public health and national security. Once recognised as global leaders in pandemic preparedness, the United States and the United Kingdom have struggled to integrate policy responses to COVID-19 into existing security frameworks and to allocate resources accordingly. Indeed, public health spending in both countries pales in comparison to spending on counter-terrorism, even though more America lives have […]
Whether the emergency is the outbreak of a new disease or a climate-related disaster, it is critical for policymakers to ensure adequate resources are available before disaster strikes. Yet the US is often underprepared for high-risk events with a high probability, with irrational decision making and interest group politics leading […]
Some twenty years ago, Paddy Chew selflessly withstood a torrent of hate when he publicly came out as the first Singaporean HIV-positive individual. Amidst the cloud of uncertainty around the epidemiology of HIV back in 1998, Paddy implored his fellow Singaporeans to extend their compassion towards people living with HIV […]
The ongoing Ebola outbreak has dominated headlines for nearly a year. It is an undeniable catastrophe, with more than 10,000 lives lost and a long list of missed opportunities in the global response to the disease. However, there are a few lessons we can draw from this tragedy – particularly […]
It was announced today that a child from the United States who was previously thought to have been cured of HIV has relapsed, and not only has the virus been detected in her body, but an associated decrease in CD4+ T cells has also been seen. She is now on anti-retroviral […]