Dear HIFA colleagues,
Richard Horton is the editor-in-chief of The Lancet and his column Offline in today's issue makes an important point in the final paragraph. I reproduce it below. Read the full article online here:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00411-1/fulltext#.YiG2ut2rlvc.twitter
'Politicians are calling for Russia to be isolated—ending diplomatic relations, imposing trade embargoes, driving out oligarchs. But be careful what you wish for. Last week, WHO convened a forum to review lessons from research into COVID-19. My task was to identify the challenges to ensuring the best science was published as quickly as possible. The first challenge was that a global pandemic demanded a global science—an international network of scientists able to communicate freely with one another. A second challenge was that global science depends on global trust. And global trust depends on open collaboration with scientists in all countries. Scientists must build trust with other scientists, irrespective of their national origin. We must support one another in the face of often hostile political criticism to provide the most reliable evidence to decision makers. As Herzen wrote “an exclusive feeling of nationality is never productive of good”. Inadvertently isolating Russian scientists and health workers will be self-defeating. Scientists must work towards a more convergent and less divided world—for national as well as human security.'
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
