Money or lives: at some point we must say ‘enough!’

Once, tuberculosis was one of the world’s greatest preoccupations. Consumption, as it was known, killed indiscriminately, claiming luminaries like Franz Kafka, John Keats, and US President James Monroe. In the last two centuries, TB has claimed more lives than any other disease: an unprecedented and unsurpassed death toll of one billion.

Thanks to the advent of a vaccine and cheap drugs, TB kills very few people in the developed world nowadays. So it has quickly been forgotten in rich countries – thought of as a relic from the Victorian era.

"In 2017, Sida - Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete will spend around 20 billion SEK on aid, with the mission to reduce poverty and help people to improve their lives. Different kinds of interventions are funded to reach this goal, but how do we know that poverty is being fought in the most effective way? What drives the decisions leading up to what to prioritize, and how can we ensure more "bang for the buck"?"

This the was the topic of a talk given by Bjorn Lomborg for Sida in November or 2017.

The decision by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan to use 99% of their Facebook shares to fund charitable initiatives over their lives is an overwhelming statement of generosity. The massive challenge for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be how to achieve the most good with this money.

Individual philanthropists play a vital role in development, not least because – unlike political initiatives or groups dependent on fundraising – billionaires can afford to ignore lobby groups and popular attention.