The Vatican’s Science Academies call for fairer global response to the COVID19 Pandemic

The Pontifical Academies based in the Vatican have prepared a statement on “Responding to the COVID19 Pandemic”. These international science leaders, appointed by Pope Francis, express concern about the selfishness and short sightedness of uncoordinated national responses to COVID19.

They call for strengthening health systems and related science in all countries as well as for capacities for early action and early responses to pandemics. Protecting poor and vulnerable people must be a priority, and they point out that women, who are the majority of health workers, are often most at risk. They argue that the sheer scale and scope of the current globalism has made the world unprecedentedly interdependent – and thus vulnerable and dysfunctional during crises. Globalism requires re-shaping, they say.

Joachim von Braun, President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and Professor at the University of Bonn underlines, “Yes, everything possible needs to be done to slow and control the pandemic and help those who suffer. We then need more investment in science to better understand the root causes of infectious diseases. And more is needed, namely a thorough review of worldviews, lifestyles, and short-term economic valuations must be carried out to cope with the global challenges of pandemics and environmental crises in a world of almost eight billion people.”

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The full statement is available at http://www.pas.va/content/accademia/en/events/2020/coronavirus.html .
Information about the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) is at www.pas.va

Photo shows Bogota, Colombia (photo by Emilia Schmidt, ZEF).

President of PAS Joachim von Braun may be contacted at jvonbraun(at)uni-bonn.de