The development and approval of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines less than a year after the start of the pandemic is a truly remarkable achievement, offering hope that the end of this devastating crisis may be in sight.

There is so much to celebrate with the new year. The arrival of safe, effective Covid-19 vaccines means that there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel (though the next few months will be horrific). Equally important, America’s mendacious, incompetent, mean-spirited president will be replaced by his polar opposite: a man of decency, honesty, and professionalism.

As anyone who has ever been responsible for legislative oversight of central bankers knows, they do not like to have their authority challenged.

China’s pledge in September to pursue carbon neutrality by 2060 was followed by a similar pledge from Japan a month later.

The European Commission has just unveiled landmark regulations for the digital economy, setting yet another global standard.

Any objective observer of the American political system must wonder why, when the United States confronts the world’s highest Covid-19 death toll and a ravaged economy, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will do nothing but confirm outgoing President Donald Trump’s appointees to the federal judiciary. It’s strange behaviour.

It is already apparent that the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will be uneven, with poorer countries bearing the brunt of the fallout.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, public life in much of the world has largely ground to a halt. For the two billion people living in conflict-affected countries, however, there has been no lull in violence and upheaval.

For much of its life, the United Nations has hidden behind the comfortable maxim that “If we didn’t have it, we would have to invent it.” Now at the venerable age of 75 (old enough to have been a 2020 US presidential candidate), the organisation still enjoys widespread approval in global opinion polls.

Covid-19 continues to have a devastating impact on public health and to rattle the global economy with structural shocks.

Among Democrats and many Republicans, there is a great temptation to dismiss US President Donald Trump’s administration as a bizarre aberration.

After a nearly six-month hiatus, the Indian parliament will reconvene in mid-September at a time of deepening national crisis. But I fear that it may be unable to hold the country’s failing government to account.

Last year, a child died of pneumonia every 39 seconds, on average. A form of acute respiratory infection, pneumonia is detectable, treatable and preventable.

A safe and effective vaccine could play a significant role in mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, even if such a vaccine is found, it is highly unlikely that a sufficient number of doses could be produced in the next 2-3 years to ensure equitable access for everyone. So, when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available, who should get it first?

Covid-19 and its collateral damage continue to leave a trail of devastation around the world. Millions of businesses have closed, with many having no realistic prospect of reopening.

Trillions of dollars have already been spent on the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and no one knows what the final bill will be. Is it possible to respond to a much longer crisis—global poverty—with even a fraction of these resources?

“The baby is dead. We can’t assist you here.” By the time she heard these devastating words, the pregnant Yasmelis Casanova had endured a long and painful journey, passing through multiple Covid-19 checkpoints, to the hospital in Caracas, Venezuela. She bled for hours without treatment.

In 2017, I was a candidate to become the next Director-General of the World Health Organization. At the 70th World Health Assembly, I stood before health ministers from around the world and warned that three things could destroy the planet: a celestial event, a third world war, or a pandemic.

As India prepares to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of its independence on August 15, a growing number of Indians are coming to believe that the battle to preserve the essence of the country born in 1947 is already lost. Many commentators have concluded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has already, in effect, inaugurated a “second republic” by upending the key assumptions of the first.

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to transform our behaviours, attitudes and policies in many areas. For the sake of overcoming the public health crisis and enabling economic recovery, one must hope that water and wastewater management will be among them.