Bill Gates brings good ideas against pandemics, but trusts capitalism too much

The coronavirus pandemic is not over yet, but according to Bill Gates, humanity is in a position to make it the last in history. For this, it is necessary to invest heavily in early detection, strengthen health systems around the world and spend a few billion dollars on a kind of “universal fire department” that would deal only with this issue.

Details about this plan are in “How to Avoid the Next Pandemia”, the most recent book by the co-founder of Microsoft, which arrives in Brazil through Companhia das Letras.

This time, Gates doesn’t present himself as a “rich and opinionated guy”, as he did in the intro to “How to Avoid a Weather Disaster” – which was released just over a year ago. Even because his work with pandemics is long-standing.

Since leaving Microsoft in 2008, the billionaire has worked as a philanthropist at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. One of the organization’s focuses is to invest in solutions for AIDS, a disease that has killed 36 million people around the world.

But not only that. In 2015, Gates delivered a TED Talk saying that humanity was not prepared for the next pandemic. Less than five years later, the new coronavirus began to spread around the world, causing more than 6.3 million deaths.

In the book, Gates says that infectious diseases are something of an obsession for him, to the point where he has to control himself not to talk about malaria and vaccines during social events.

Considering the current point of technological maturation and the availability of resources, he argues that the world can get rid of pandemics forever — and the objective is to take advantage of the fact that Covid-19 is fresh in people’s memory to put the plan into action.

“Outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional.” Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant’s famous quote is at the heart of Gates’ argument. According to him, diseases will continue to spread among human beings, but they don’t have to become disasters.

For that to happen, governments, scientists, companies and individuals need to build a system that will contain unavoidable outbreaks. Early detection is the first point.

The world needs to improve disease surveillance, which involves investing in robust health systems—particularly in the least developed countries. Other solutions involve finding new treatments; develop vaccines; and overcome the health disparity between rich and poor countries.

The logic is that some answers are already at hand, but companies, governments and civil society need to help disperse them across the planet. For solutions that still need to be developed, the point is to channel efforts and resources, investing, for example, in research on diagnostic systems and innovative treatments.

However, at the heart of Gates’ plan is an organization that would function as a pandemic fire department. He gave this group the suggestive name Germ (Global Epidemiological Mobilization and Response).

Germ’s role would be to keep an eye out for possible outbreaks, but also help with containment, create systems to share information, standardize policy recommendations and pressure countries to implement the necessary measures.

The group would work under the auspices of the WHO (World Health Organization) and would be made up of scientists, diplomats, epidemiologists, data specialists and computer modeling specialists.

In Gates’ estimates, Germ would need 3,000 full-time employees at a cost of $1 billion a year. The team will also be responsible for another essential step: periodic training.

For the plan to work, Bill Gates makes clear the importance of governments and researchers in this process. The billionaire has repeatedly acknowledged that the private sector is incapable of solving all the world’s problems.

However, he does not deny his enthusiasm for the model. “As the founder of a successful technology company, I am a strong believer in the power of the private sector to drive innovation,” he writes.

“Not all people like this arrangement, but profit is often the most powerful force in the world to create products quickly,” he adds.

In the book, Gates uses the coronavirus pandemic to point out mistakes and suggest solutions. The disparity between rich and poor countries is a central point.

A billionaire who has been rewarded by an economic model is to be expected to avoid criticizing it. But strange that, when addressing inequalities exposed during the pandemic, he does not devote a few paragraphs to explaining what may be behind these problems.

Overcoming this challenge, by the way, is a condition to avoid future crises, he says. However, little is said about the root of the discrepancies.

The Microsoft co-founder recalls, for example, that the pandemic was worse for blacks, Latinos and indigenous people. That poor countries received less vaccines and medicines. But to what extent have the market logic and the “mighty force of profit” that he so values ​​not historically contributed to this happening?

As Gates does not address the causes of the problem he criticizes, it seems that the goal is to run forever after a loss. According to the book, foundations and governments of rich countries have to commit to allocating resources to the places that need it most. At no point does tackling the root of inequality enter the plan.

In the end, even recognizing that private initiative does not solve everything, the billionaire relies too much on capitalist and philanthropic logic. The book doesn’t seem to suspect that this system — which made Bill Gates and other billionaires richer during the pandemic — could also help maintain the inequalities that have compounded Covid’s tragic outcomes.

How to Avoid the Next Pandemic

• Author bill Gates
• Publishing company Companhia das Letras
• Price BRL 74.90
• Pages 344