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Research and innovation vital in new COVID-19 world
The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has exposed the need for mutual learning and international partnerships on a larger scale. As a global community, no country is safe until every country is safe. We have to take a long-term view to sustain the hard-won gains in global health and development.
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Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19,, poses for a photograph using a microscope to look at bacteria containing coronavirus, Covid-19, DNA fragments, in a research lab at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in London on February 10, 2020. - A team of UK scientists believe they are one of the first to start animal testing of a vaccine for the new coronavirus that has killed more than 1,000 people and spread around the world. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY WILLIAM EDWARDS (AFP/Tolga AKMEN)
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fter an incredibly difficult year, it is understandable that many people are looking forward to a ‘post-COVID’ era. But with no end to the pandemic in sight, we need to shift our thinking to start to see ourselves as societies living with this virus and focus on the long-term planning needed to tackle the enormous challenges ahead.
Epidemics, much like threats such as climate change and cyber-crime, do not respect national borders and we cannot build walls to keep them out. Science and innovation have a key role to play, not only in finding safe and effective treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, but also in addressing the complex wider issues facing our societies and economies, including the health toll of the COVID-19 response.
Global problems require coordinated international solutions.
In recent decades, we have made remarkable advances in global health and wellbeing and lifted millions of people out of poverty. This progress has been due in large part to science, innovation and research and the United Kingdom has played a leading role.
From advances in agriculture to the global spread of the internet, mobile and satellite connectivity, the UK has contributed significantly through transformative interdisciplinary research.
The UK has worked collaboratively with international partners to connect the strength of UK research with institutions and networks in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This was particularly evident in the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Equity and access to healthcare for the world’s most vulnerable people are at the foundation of this research.
