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TED Talk - What It Takes to Crush a Pandemic



Johanna Benesty presents concepts for global access to treatment by all people in a pandemic. 

How does supply and demand affect success for curtailing a global outbreak of a deadly virus?

Benesty proposes  a “design-to-cost” method of research and development of new vaccines and medicines to treat the populations of the world.  It is more logical to approach R&D from the perspective of the weakest health systems in upper and lower income systems. 

That is, begin research with the final cost in mind and then fit the research, development and distribution issues to that final cost of the drug.  In this way, all the peoples on earth could have access to quality health care, especially in the case of a global pandemic when it is critical to the survival of humankind to move onward together.


About the author: Debra Beck, Ph.D. is the former director of the Health Professions Programs at the University of North Texas where she served as the inaugural JAMP Faculty Director. After her retirement, she served as a consultant to TXHES where she established the Courage Sessions series to address the fast-changing landscape of admissions to professional school during the pandemic.

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