Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, has raised urgent concerns about two critical global issues: the prospects of war and the possibility of another pandemic.
In the recent discussions, Gates highlighted that geopolitical tensions may trigger large-scale conflict, and he himself noted that a new pandemic is possible within the next 25 years. He underscored the need for nations to up their game, as opposed to the responses seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In his words, “The country that the world expected to lead fell short of those expectations,” Gates said, while commenting on the U.S. response. In his book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, published in 2022, Gates shares his critical view on various governments’ preparedness and offers the necessary measures for preparedness.
Some of such measures include strict measures on quarantine, enhanced surveillance of the disease, and increased funding for the development of vaccines.
However, Gates noted that there has been little progress in pandemic preparedness, and he is disappointed at the slow adoption of what the world has learned from COVID-19. He said, “While some lessons have been learned, it has been way less than I would expect.”
Gates calls for international collaboration and timely action, and stresses that the actions taken today will greatly affect future generations. He said with the unrest in the world today could spark a major war and even if that is avoided there will be another pandemic in the next 25 years.
His recommendations are a wakeup call to leaders of nations to focus on health security and conflict avoidance to prevent future problems.
