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Five big ideas emerged from the discussion, held—as in past Retreats—under the Chatham House Rule of non-attribution:

1. Triumph of science, failure of leadership

The contradictions implicit in the outlook for human health are striking. Manifestations of the triumph of science are significant and accelerating, in no small part thanks to the digitalization of societies and the effects of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. From the stunning speed by which highly effective messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines were developed and produced to the groundbreaking work that is happening in gene editing, from the pioneering work in human longevity to recent breakthroughs in synthetic biology, our world is on the cusp of a scientific revolution unlike any we’ve seen since the advent of antibiotics.

This makes the failure of leadership all the more disappointing. From inadequately addressing measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic to rising inequalities in human health—levels of nutrition, rates of hunger, access to water, access to healthcare, access to technology, and access to a healthy physical environment—many leaders have disappointed.

Left unaddressed, this science-leadership gap could grow even wider. As technology innovation and diffusion progress at even faster rates, effective leadership is more crucial than ever to address the corresponding opportunities and challenges. It remains to be seen whether leadership can rise to the challenge.

2. Enhancing the ESG formula

As countries and companies worldwide redouble their focus on environment, social, and governance (ESG) priorities and goals and as representatives from across the planet assemble at COP26 to develop new approaches to reverse degradation of the physical environment, the need to examine the ESG challenges through the lens of human health is essential.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has painfully demonstrated, human health is inextricably linked to economic opportunity and performance, social mores, and our ability to govern effectively. When we get the ESG proposition right, human health is enhanced. Sadly, the inverse also applies.

The new ESG formula, therefore, should be ESG=H, where H stands for human health.

3. Basic infrastructure enhancements are crucial to leveraging new health technologies

Technologies relevant to human health are now more advanced and profound than ever, but the basic infrastructure needed to take advantage of the latest health technologies continues to be inadequate. Gaps in infrastructure are slowing progress.

Telemedicine is a case in point. Although the prospects of telemedicine are extraordinary, better broadband access is essential to ensure its growth. This is especially true when the prospects for expanded hospital-at-home innovations in healthcare are considered. Expect growing pressure for enhanced infrastructure investments needed to unlock improved and expanded healthcare delivery with amazing new technologies.

4. Anthropogenic challenges underlie two existential global threats

Pandemics, including COVID-19, can be triggered by zoonotic diseases, making them anthropogenic challenges stemming from increased human interaction with nature. They have occurred already and will likely recur in the future.

Another existential threat to the planet, climate change, is similarly driven by challenges arising from human interaction with nature. These threats to human health and the survival of the planet require a fundamental and urgent rethink of how humanity engages with nature.

Partial solutions simply will not suffice. In a world marked by acute divisions and pronounced inequities, as the World Health Organization has suggested, “in our interdependent world no one is safe until everyone is safe.” That implies the need for system-wide approaches to meet future challenges.

5. The need to powerfully imagine the post-pandemic future

The extraordinary challenges and opportunities reshaping human health require us to think about the future in new ways across all domains: business, government, civil society, and thought leadership.

Leaders worldwide need to reimagine the impact of the remarkable changes that are happening in human health, many of which have been obscured by the harsh realities of COVID-19. They need to contemplate a world in which personalized medicine will take human health to new levels. They need to open their minds to futures in which conventional wisdoms are turned upside down, such as regarding aging as a disease that can be treated or even reversed. They need to grapple with the rapid growth of genetic editing made possible by CRISPR-Cas9 and other related advances. And they need to envision a world in which the building blocks of life are transformed thanks to synthetic biology.

These sweeping changes will transcend the healthcare sector, as vital as that is. They will also serve to redefine multiple sectors—in some cases, in complex ways that are both unpredictable and transformative. But we are not likely to benefit from these amazing new possibilities until and unless we consistently allow science and fact to inform our decision-making. We are living a zero-sum game reality where we make the right decisions from which all of society benefits, or we fail to do so and all countries, all sectors, and all demographic cohorts lose. It is, therefore, incumbent on all of us to use whatever platforms we have at our disposal to help inform those we lead and encourage those who lead us to do what is smart, which also happens to mean doing what is right.

The authors would like to thank Rebecca Grenham for her valuable contributions to this report.

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