With polio projected to be eradicated within a year, we can congratulate ourselves on saving future generations from the ravages of a wholly preventable disease. The UAE played a prominent role in this, alongside groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and dedicated medical teams on the ground in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Just as with the earlier eradication of smallpox, we are justified in enjoying a moment of reflection about just what the international community can achieve when it works together for the common good. This is particularly timely given the way the news headlines now are so often dominated by doom and gloom.
While enjoying this moment, we must also identify the next big and audacious goal. As we reported today, the Gates Foundation thinks the next target should not be a disease but a condition: poverty. Empowering billions to lift themselves out the cycle of poverty would be an achievement to rival polio’s eradication.