The War in Ukraine, Road Safety in Lusaka, and Cholera in Malawi

Editor's Note

In the fourteen months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the conflict has had a paradoxical effect on international cooperation: hampering global solutions, while intensifying cooperation among geopolitical alliances. Our first set of authors explores the implications of that phenomenon for progress on issues ranging from climate change and global health threats to nuclear nonproliferation and arms control.  

Our next piece is an interview with Chilando Chitangala, the mayor of Lusaka, Zambia, a rapidly growing city struggling to improve road safety and save lives. The mayor discusses how a series of crashes in 2018 that injured or killed a dozen children spurred her into action.   

Another set of authors describes how two nongovernmental organizations in Pakistan are using telehealth to provide urgent care in rural settings and discusses how other countries seeking to expand access to digital emergency care could replicate this model. One telehealth pioneer highlights the benefits of virtual health care: "There are the minor things, which a physician on the ground can easily miss, but someone who is sitting in a peaceful environment can easily judge and add a value." 

Closing out the week, a final piece assesses the dynamics contributing to Malawi's recent surge in cholera cases, which has been called its "worst outbreak in two decades."  

As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky  