Skip to content
Surprising Science

The War on Disease

Many are beginning to acknowledge that disease-specific health campaigns in Third World countries can only work if they also strengthen the health systems in those nations.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Bill Gates is reconsidering his strategic giving after $700 million in donations failed to stop the spread of polio ravaging the Third World. Many are beginning to acknowledge that disease-specific health wars only work if they also strengthen the overall health system in poor countries. “If successful, the recalibrated campaign could shape global health strategy for decades and boost fights against other diseases. A failure could rank the effort as one of the most expensive miscalculations in mankind’s long war with disease.”

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related

Up Next
When undersea eruptions destroy life around hydrothermal vents—the intersections of tectonic plates—new species travel from as far as 200 miles away to repopulate the area.