Even billionaire philanthropist and entrepreneur Bill Gates has questions that keep him up at night: Will there be another pandemic? Will global tensions reach a boiling point and spark a world war? What will push us to that point?
While Gates, a father of three, is staunchly optimistic about things like AI and the eradication of deadly diseases like polio, he remains concerned about widespread war and new pandemics.
He said there was currently “great unrest” in the world that could lead to a “major war”.
But even if that conflict is averted, “certainly, it’s likely that we’ll see another pandemic within the next 25 years,” Gates told CNBC Make It.
The Microsoft co-founder expressed frustration with the global response to the pandemic, saying important lessons are being ignored.
He criticized the US response to the crisis, saying “the country the world looked to to lead and set an example has failed to live up to those expectations.”
“Some lessons have been learned from the (COVID-19) pandemic, but unfortunately, the results have been much less than I had hoped for,” the 69-year-old added.
Gates is not alone in his disappointment: many other global health advocates are calling on Western countries to do better in responding to new outbreaks.
Professor Paul Hunter is an expert in the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases based at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK.
Speaking to Fortune magazine last month about the deadly new strain of MPOX, Professor Hunter said: “In the West, we only really become interested in a disease once it starts posing a direct threat to us. The problem is, a lot of these diseases could have been prevented if the countries on the ground had had enough resources.”
This is a recurring theme, one that has become evident during the COVID-19 outbreak, he added: “Western countries only become interested in controlling epidemics once cases begin to appear, and by that time it is almost always too late to eradicate the infection.”
Gates reiterated that he expects health agencies to start thinking longer term in the coming years, adding: “We haven’t yet been able to put our heads together about what’s worked and what hasn’t worked. Maybe over the next five years, things will get better.”
“But so far it’s pretty surprising.”
This message also comes from the top of the tree, the World Health Organization (WHO).
Earlier this year, the WHO warned about the potential for influenza viruses to spread between cattle, birds and humans, and urged countries to work together to prepare for a pandemic.
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“One thing is certain: there will be other influenza pandemics in the future,” said Nicola Lewis, director of the World Influenza Centre.
Lewis added: “My message to the international community is that we must let go of our complacency. We must let go of our narrow-minded concerns and remember the impact and devastating consequences of a global pandemic, whatever the pathogen may be.”
The horrors of World War
Gates, whose net worth is $157 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is not the only influential person warning about the possibility of global conflict.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has previously said geopolitical tensions are the biggest threat facing the global economy, telling CNBC affiliate CNBC TV-18 in September: “We’ve dealt with inflation before, we’ve dealt with deficits before, we’ve dealt with recessions before, but we haven’t seen anything like this since World War II.”
“I think the US is taking (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) very seriously, but I’m not sure how the rest of the world is taking it. A European democracy was invaded under nuclear threat. I think this is a good response, but it will affect all of our relationships until the war is resolved in some way.”
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com.
