The Case for Universal Responses to Crises of Humanity

Context: We must study behavioural traits common to all humans for solutions to problems like our pandemic.

Key Reason for the Spread of Pandemic: 

• By product of Globalization: Due to the increased travel, the virus spread quickly.

Management of the pandemic

• Localized efforts, Not done at a global level:  Different countries had different ways of dealing with the pandemic

• For E. g. - Taiwan managed it at a country level while in India, most of the pandemic management was delegated to state governments. 

• Countries like the United States did very little at the national level.
• Responsibility to manage the pandemic was left to the state leadership.

• Collaboration in efforts to develop a vaccine: Health experts from various countries, pharmaceutical companies and universities around the world came together. 

Stages in managing a Pandemic

• Understanding the problem and Developing solutions: Understanding the problem and developing solutions should be done at the global level

• This approach is based on understanding the behavioural aspects of the people involved and then developing a solution

• Case Study: 

• For, E.g. An analysis of accidents suffered by railway-track trespassers in Mumbai found that the human brain underestimates the speed of incoming objects.
• As part of the solution, a series of track sleepers in the train'strain's path were intermittently painted yellow to act as a visual reference of its oncoming speed.
• It makes sense to look for similarities and then search for differences. This is because Human behaviour tends to be similar across the globe.
• For. E.g.  Even during the COVID crisis, there were many commonalities of behaviour across countries like people across the world showed reluctance to adopt new social protocols like wearing masks.

• Implementing the solutions and monitoring the same:  Implementation and monitoring are always best managed at the local level.

Conclusion: A global approach to understanding the problem and developing solutions is more efficient than each country trying to find its own solution.