From deadly pathogens to war-induced humanitarian crises and the effects of climate disasters, the toll of health challenges can seem insurmountable. But global threats can only be met with a global response. A conversation on the need, benefits, and challenges of forming a global governing body dedicated to establishing uniform policies on health.
Sir Tony Blair, Executive Chairman, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Interviewer: Dr. David B. Agus, Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine

Brainstorm Health 2022 - The International Imperative: Worldwide Health Governance 

Conferences

Sir Tony Blair, Executive Chairman, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change 
Interviewer: Dr. David B. Agus, Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine 


Brainstorm Health 2022 -  Worldwide Health Governance 

A conversation on the need, benefits, and challenges of forming a global governing body dedicated to establishing uniform policies on health.

Brainstorm Health 2022 - The International Imperative: Worldwide Health Governance 


so the theme of this conference this year is the globality of health and that we have to think global um in what happens globally matters locally. Um so ser Tony, which is just kind of cool to say, I have to say? Um um um um um you know, you in the last decade, I mean are traveling continent to continent, you know, country to country and meeting with ministers of Health to Prime Ministers to President, Have you seen a shift um through this pandemic of what they care about, not just on the virus side, but on health as a whole, is there a transformation happening or is it really the same as it was? I have seen a huge change. There's a transformation that's desired. I mean, how they do it is now the question that's preoccupying policymakers, but Covid has changed completely the way they look at things, they now realize that health is a global problem. They now realize for example that collecting data on health is an absolute priority. They now realize that the cost of having inadequate health care infrastructure is a huge penalty on on not just on their people's health but on their economy. So I would say it's that the attitudes have been completely transformed in the course of Covid and I think particularly in relation to health and within health, particularly in respect of technology, you know, some of the things you're doing in developing countries, you know, particularly in sub Saharan africa were trying to bring in the technology infrastructure to enable health, you know, I really think is transformative and may be able to make some of those countries actually leapfrog some of the developed countries, can you just give a framework of what it is explained to people and and you know, when you started to explain this to government, I mean, tell us about that process and how they evolved to really get it over time. So for many of these governments, what what they always had as an ambition is essentially to build the same type of health care structures and systems as the Western developed nations. But one of the things that happened in the course of Covid is that they've realized that these health care systems are themselves going to be redundant in many respects. And so now they're looking at the possibility of using technology to to circumvent those legacy systems and build something new and um innovative for their countries now they've got a huge way to go. But for example, and when they had to to look at covid vaccinations and realize that even though they've done vaccinations for Children, they've never done adult vaccination programs before and therefore they needed proper data. When now I think there's an increasing understanding and you know, often David as a result of the work that people like yourself are doing that, there's going to be a whole new generation of potential vaccines and injectables that are going to to deal with some of the most common diseases in these countries. They're now thinking about how they build a different type of health care system, which is based on um, keeping good data about what is happening, which is based on ensuring that you use technology to reach people in the outlying areas and which is based on prevention of disease rather than curing disease or attempting to live with that disease once it's taken root. So I would say the, the, you know, developing countries and the leadership that I'm talking to, they're open to a completely different engagement today from from how they would have looked at things a few years back. And I think particularly for people in the pharmaceutical sector, there is an enormous opportunity not just to do well, but to do good in these countries. So obviously that what has allowed this inflection point is the concept that we've shifted most of the technology to the cloud and so that the country doesn't need the infrastructure to be able to do things locally, which was very hard for many countries and it could be based in the cloud. When you're speaking to these individual uh sovereignty ease. Are they saying we want to have our own sovereign data center or they're saying, hey, listen, we can have one for the continent of Africa, one for europe et cetera. Or still this concept of sovereign matter, It's still the concept of sovereign matters. So the reality is with with a cloud, that there's, you know, run by one of the top companies in the world. It would it is going to be much more secure frankly than keeping your data in locally. But I think for many countries politically and being able to say our data is here, it's in country is extremely important. Now. If you're able to do that in in even medium size or even some small countries is a huge bonus. Obviously one of the things that's really been evident to us in the West and in developed countries is that we never thought of the concept of global health leadership. We never really understood the importance of global health leadership. But clearly through these last 2.5 years we have seen the lack of global health leadership and what it implied um ranging from countries making vaccines for others and taking them for themselves to lack of policies on transportation and travel, to lack of cooperation on data, all of the above. How are we going to have a global health leadership system over the next several years? Well, that's a great question. And I think it's it's um, the necessity, it is clear, I mean, covid with global health problem, it continues to be um any future pandemic will be as well. So disease anywhere is potentially disease everywhere. The economic impact of the shutdowns with colossal and we're still recovering from it. Um, it's actually partly responsible for a lot of the pressures we see in the, in the economy today. And the truth is we got within our hands as a result of the advances in medical science and technology. We've got in our hands the possibility of making a huge difference. And when when we are helping for example deal with TB or malaria or dengue or even the non communicable diseases, you know, cancer, heart disease. When we're in a position where we're better able to deal with these diseases in the developing world, the developed world also benefits. I mean those countries become wealthier and more stable and a lot of the political problems by the way disappear when when you you you've got a proper functioning healthcare system and when life expectancy is going up and child mortality is going down. So I think the necessities absolutely clear. The question then is what is the, how do you put it into operation and there, I think You know, you can mandate it from bodies like the G-20 or G-7. But I think, you know, we have to look at this global architecture and think about it very carefully. And it may be that, you know, obviously you've got the W. H. O. There. But I think there is a case for also for loose coalitions of organizations to come together to work together um in handling global problems. Some of those came to fruition during the course of covid. But the industry that's engaged in these life changing vaccines and injectables and the drugs that can transform people's lives. I think we need to find some way of making sense of how we deal with the problems of manufactured distribution and access in the poorest parts of the world. And I think it's a big, big challenge. I haven't yet come to a clear conclusion as to what the right institutional mechanism is, but I think it's something where there needs to be a strong engagement with the business sector and the science scientific sector in order to get the right answer. You know what one of the things that impresses me about you is the availability of talking to the ceo of a pharma company, to the Prime Minister of the developed country to a developing country. And what's clear is that those conversations need to happen more. And you know, now we have the technology companies, we have Silicon Valley, we have many technology companies globally that have never been involved in those conversations. And so bringing in the technology world and there are dozens of companies that can certainly help accelerate all of the things that you and I and others are working on and bringing them together with the world leaders and having that conversation is something that needs to happen. And I know you've been passionate about that. How is it going to happen over the next several years? Yeah, again, it's a great question. Look, I think we've got to create mechanisms whereby people come together and we have what I call the policy makers and the change makers in the same room in dialogue. And the problem with a very fast changing world is when those two groups of people, policy makers, change makers are separated, the policy makers, they're not understanding the changes and therefore they're not performing the task of policy very well. And the change makers uh inventing and developing things that that can be transformative in their impact, but they will need at a certain point government to create the right environment and to give the right help for them to happen. And I think that's why, I mean, one of things we're looking at the institute is what what are the right forums to try and bring that those two groups of people together and get the the engagement between government and the business sector, the technology sector that we need, if we're going to have any chance of improving the lives of people, not just in healthcare by way, but you go right across the piece in agriculture, in education, in energy, everything has been changed by technology, but the policymakers need to be aware of the potential what drives you now. I mean, listen, you've you've had tremendous impact on the globe yet, you're working as hard as you ever have. Um and your schedule makes me tired just seeing it and hearing about it, I always say to be the most important thing in life is to wake up with a sense of purpose and go to bed counting your blessings and you know, I was lucky enough to be Prime Minister of uh the U. K. For 10 years. I learned a lot and I'm fascinated by By how government can change lives if it's done properly. And that you know, one thing I will say to people is in the 1960s, in the late 60's Sierra Leone and South Korea had the same GDP per head. You know, one advance the other didn't. You know, it's all about the quality of government and governance and today as much as anything else, it's about the ability of today's generation of leaders to engage with the process of change that is happening, particularly technological change and if they can this this is why they need to be in dialogue with the people making the change because if they can understand it then they can help harness it for the public. Good Tony I want to thank you for spending time with these global health leaders here in the room. Um I think it's important for them to hear this perspective on the global side and I think they're gonna hear a lot more about what you're doing and the impact it's having. You know what amazes me about you almost more than anything is your sense of curiosity whenever we talk, you don't want to just know the answer you want to understand why and I think it really is a powerful tool going forward that very few leaders do is they want to understand the roots of the issues, understand the technology and understand how they can make change. So I think all of us thank you for what you're doing and the impact you're having on the crisis we have now, and hopefully building the foundation for big change in the future. Well, thanks very much David and thank you for educating me because you're one of the people that can express these very complicated things in in language that even a poor political idiot can understand so many many things.