The coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruption in global health, and exposed gaps in global health governance and coordination. But as the sector rethinks the current global health architecture, global health expert Steve Davis cautioned against trying to fix it by just setting up a new institution.
“Probably every week, I'm in a conversation, where somebody says something — and I'm accused of doing this as well — ‘we need the Gavi of X.’” Davis, senior strategy adviser and interim director of the China country office at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in an interview.
“I understand the need for some of these new capabilities, I just wonder how we can shuffle the architecture a bit, where we don't keep adding on more and more rooms to the house … As opposed to thinking maybe we need to redesign the house a little bit,” said Davis, who previously served as president and CEO at PATH.
In the interview with Devex President & Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar, Davis also talked about vaccine nationalism, delivery challenges for a COVID-19 vaccine, and what priorities need to be shifted to be better prepared for the next global health crisis.
Watch the full interview with Steve Davis.
For more interviews with leaders on COVID-19, watch:
• UNAIDS director warns of 'colliding epidemics'
• Gilbert Houngbo on food security and COVID-19
• Bertrand Badré on the pandemic's effect on impact investing
• CEPI CEO on the barriers to COVID-19 vaccine access