Another pandemic is the top concern for Bill Gates, keeping him awake at night.
For decades, Bill Gates, a billionaire philanthropist, has been cautioning the public about impending threats, including "climate disasters" and devastating cyberattacks.
Gates expresses the most concern about two potential catastrophes: a major war and another pandemic in the next 25 years. He believes that "a lot of unrest" in today's world could lead to a major war, and even if we avoid that, another pandemic is likely to occur.
Pandemics are increasingly likely and inevitable, according to scientists, who attribute this to factors such as climate change and population growth, as research indicates.
The question for Gates and other global health advocates is not if another pandemic will occur soon, but if nations will be better prepared for it than they were for Covid-19. Gates says that the country that was expected to lead and set the example fell short of those expectations, referring to the United States.
In 2022, Gates published a book titled "How to Prevent the Next Pandemic," where he criticized governments, including the U.S., for their inadequate preparation in 2020. The book contained recommendations for countries worldwide, such as stricter quarantine measures, increased investment in disease monitoring, and accelerated vaccine research and development.
Although some progress has been made with increased spending on pandemic preparedness, Gates believes the global response to the coronavirus pandemic hasn't been enough.
Despite the political divisions that hindered the world's response to Covid-19, Gates notes that the lack of coordination in assessing our actions and identifying areas for improvement is still a significant obstacle to preparing for the next outbreak. He believes that it may take five more years for this to change, but so far, the progress has been slow.
The upcoming Netflix docuseries "What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates," set to premiere September 18, focuses on preventing widespread disease.
In a Netflix series screening, Gates talks to Dr. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the moral responsibility of wealthy nations, such as the U.S., to share their resources to prevent the spread of disease globally.
This summer, Fauci published a memoir titled "On Call," where he expressed his concerns about the "crisis of truth" resulting from the spread of misinformation, including that which undermined public trust in public health initiatives.
In a July interview with People, the scientist expressed a more optimistic outlook and stated that he believes that public trust in scientific facts will eventually be restored.
Fauci expressed a cautious optimism that "the better angels in everybody" will emerge.
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