Health Policy and Initiatives

Over the past fifteen years, global health has been threatened by Ebola epidemics in West Africa, the emergence of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the spread of Zika through the Americas,and the 2009 influenza pandemic. The tolls of each event have been exacerbated by inadequate data systems. Ongoing struggles to track the global spread of COVID-19 demonstrate the need to fix problems in existing surveillance for infectious diseases.

As we enter year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, three leading global health experts examine how the United States and the world have dealt with the evolving situation, the lessons learned, and the way forward.

Henry Kissinger and Eric Schmidt discuss the transformational power of artificial intelligence.  The Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Annual Lecture on Science and Technology addresses issues at the intersection of science, technology, and foreign policy. It has been endowed in perpetuity through a gift from CFR members Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener.

Nicholas Eberstadt discusses U.S. demographic exceptionalism and how demographic trends will drive policymaking in the 21st century. This meeting is the fifth session in CFR’s speaker series, The 21st Century World: Big Challenges & Big Ideas, which features some of today’s leading thinkers and tackles issues ​that will define this century. Our first session on April 13 featured Margaret MacMillan on “What Are the Lessons of History for Our Era?,” the second session on May 4 featured Anne Applebaum on “Can Democracy Survive?,” the third with Nicholas Stern on “Will Climate Change Us Before We Change It?” took place on June 16, and the fourth on July 15 with Minouche Shafik on “Balancing the Role of Government and Markets.”

Panelists discuss vaccine hesitancy in the United States and around the world and how misinformation, public confidence, and the efficacy of public health communication may affect global immunization against COVID-19.