Andrew Lakoff, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The World Health Organization is not a disease police force but more of a diplomatic group, aiming to bring countries together to stop disease. Still, it comes under fierce attack.
Katherine E. Gallagher, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Anthony Scott, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Ifedayo Adetifa, KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme; John Ojal, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Shirine Voller, KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, and Wangeci Kagucia, KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Coronavirus is a stark reminder of what a world without vaccines would look like.
China’s bullying behaviour, its threatened resort to a form of economic blackmail and its attempts to drive a wedge between Canberra and Washington mark a vexed new frontier for Australian diplomacy.
Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the latest coronavirus developments, Malcolm Turnbull’s Memoirs, and the ACCC code of conduct for Facebook and Google.
Suerie Moon, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
The world rightly expressed shock and dismay at Donald Trump’s suspension of US funding for WHO. To respond, other governments, funders and citizens are urgently needed to fill the gap.
The Trump administration has halted funding to the World Health Organization in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. But what does it actually do with its budget?
Both cats and dogs can become infected with the coronavirus. The chances of them getting sick or passing it on to you or another animal are extremely low.
If enacted, the funding cuts may cause the WHO to go bankrupt in the middle of a pandemic. Trump’s move also signals the US is no longer prepared to provide a leadership role in global health issues.
For science communicators to be effective, best practice principles need to be applied to the design of messages, the choice of who conveys those messages, and their tone and timing.
Researchers, scientific journals and health agencies are doing everything they can to speed up coronavirus research. The combination of pace and panic during this pandemic is causing mistakes.
Emmanuel Véron, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) and Emmanuel Lincot, Institut catholique de Paris (ICP)
China is seeking to present itself as a model in the fight against the coronavirus – even if it means rewriting the history of the crisis and discrediting the governance of liberal democracies.
Facebook, Google and Twitter are stepping up to block misinformation and promote accurate information about the coronavirus. Their track records on self-policing are poor. The results so far are mixed.
Director of Koi Tū, the Centre for Informed Futures; former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau