Why contraception is needed to control population explosion

By September, the world’s 193 governments will meet in New York and agree on a set of ambitious, global targets for 2030. Over the next 15 years these targets will direct the $2.5 trillion to be spent on development assistance, as well as countless trillions in national budgets.

Climate change has been blamed for a dizzying array of absurd woes, from the dwindling number of customers at Bulgarian brothels to the death of the Loch Ness monster. Most of us can see through these silly headlines, but it’s far harder to parse the more serious claims when they’re repeated in good faith by well-meaning campaigners.

Jobs don’t come much tougher than this. Whoever is chosen as the new head of the World Health Organization next week has $4.5 billion a year to spend – but when you’re trying to improve public health on a planet of 7.5 billion people, you have to use it wisely.

So the new director-general needs to prioritise areas where a sharper focus would squeeze the most out of every dollar, yen, euro or pound spent. Doing this would also bolster the case for an increase in the WHO’s budget.