Omicron, Pandemic Treaty, HIV/AIDS
Omicron, Pandemic Treaty, HIV/AIDS
Better health begins with ideas
Editors' Note The air is crackling with conversation about omicron, a new variant of the coronavirus first identified by South Africa-based researchers and now reported in over thirty countries. Omicron's emergence is another reminder that the world should rethink its approach to ensuring global health security, our first writer says. Our second author examines how trust—or the lack of it—has influenced the shape of the pandemic. We've also updated our COVID-19 vaccine donations tracker to highlight how higher-income countries are addressing the vaccine inequity that contributed to the emergence of omicron.
Beyond omicron, we highlight an excerpt from "Legal Tools for Pandemic Preparedness"—a new report released as policymakers met this week for a World Health Assembly special session to discuss a pandemic treaty. We also feature a commentary that questions the need for such a treaty.
For World AIDS Day on December 1, we highlight new research that suggests actual deaths from HIV/AIDS are more than three times greater on average than what is being reported—a discrepancy that seriously affects health policy. To wrap up the week, enjoy our newest Culture Friday feature, an interview with Alina Chan, coauthor of the new book Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19.
As always, thank you for reading. —Thomas J. Bollyky and Mary Brophy Marcus, Editors
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