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Covid-19: how a virus is turning the world upside down

BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1336 (Published 03 April 2020)
Cite this as: BMJ 2020;369:m1336

Ilona Kickbusch, director1,  

Gabriel M Leung, dean of medicine2,  

Zulfiqar A Bhutta, co-director3,  

Malebona Precious Matsoso, director of health regulatory science platform4,  

Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general5,  

Kamran Abbasi, executive editor6

1Global Health Programme, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland

2Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

3Centre for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

4Wits Health Consortium, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

5Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria

6The BMJ, London, UK

Correspondence to: I Kickbusch kickbusch@bluewin.ch

“Covid-19 has taught us that health is the basis of wealth, that global health is no longer defined by Western nations and must also be guided by Africa and Asia, and that international solidarity is an essential response and a superior approach to isolationism. We may emerge from this with a healthier respect for the environment and our common humanity. All citizens, governments, businesses, and organisations must heed these lessons. Covid-19 is the virus that is turning the world upside down. It will destroy the world as we know it; in the process we may learn to hold it together.”

 

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