current global issues essay

104 Global Issues Essay Topics

Find a collection of global issues topics for students covering challenges of the entire world. This is a broad spectrum of problems, from environmental concerns and human rights to economic disparities and geopolitical conflicts. Have a look at these world issues to write about and encourage a dialogue on the shared responsibilities we all have.

🗺️ TOP 7 Global Issues Essay Topics

🏆 global issues topics for students, 🎓 interesting world issues to write about, 💡 simple global issues essay topics, ❓ more issues in the world to write about.

• Global Health Issues: Essay Example
• Global Environmental Issue in the 21st Century
• Global and Local Issues Affecting John Deere Firm
• Artificial Intelligence and Global Societal Issues
• World Hunger and Food Distribution as Global Issue
• Global and Local Issues Affecting John Deere
• Food and Water Security as Globalization Issues
• Globalization and National Security Issues International security researchers have taken side of the big debate, with some arguing that globalization has indeed contributed to national and international security.
• Global LGBTQ Health and Health Issues Although there has been rapid progress in the inclusion of LGBTQ people, they continue to face many health disparities, hence their poor health outcomes across the world.
• Global Issues of World Poverty: Reasons and Solutions The term ‘world poverty’ refers to poverty around the world and is not only limited to developing and under-developed nations.
• Aspects of Global Health Issues The study claims that the new skills brought by science and medicine have failed to attain the mass of the global population.
• The History of Climate Change and Global Warming Issue The paper states that the history of climate change and the solutions communities opted for are critical to tackling the current global warming issue.
• Violence against Women: A Review of the Global Issue Millions of women continue to suffer from domestic abuse and discrimination. This paper explores the issue of global violence against women in its current state.
• Food Security: Global Health Issue Comparison The paper discusses three initiatives or approaches practiced by international organizations and offers three suggestions from the author on methods of improvement
• Global Health Issues: On the Border Line The main purpose of this paper is to discuss how serving as a public health administrator at a border is a challenge for public health workers.
• Vaccine Hesitancy as a Global Health Issue This work aims to describe the issue of vaccine hesitancy in the context of one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) offered by the United Nations.
• Global Warming and Other Ecology Issues The results of global warming will always remain a topic of controversy. Most scientists will always agree and disagree on the real effects of global warming on human life.
• Global Warming: Issue Analysis Global warming is a term commonly used to describe the consequences of man- made pollutants overloading the naturally-occurring greenhouse gases causing an increase of the average global temperature.
• Sexual Health and Identity as Global Issues This paper discusses the origins and essential information about the issue of sexual health and identity, the population impacted by the issue, and society’s impact on the issue.
• COVID 19 as a Global Health Issue Today, the global community remains concerned about the state of healthcare as new diseases arise, and the treatment for the widespread illnesses remains undeveloped.
• Chinese Companies and Globalization Issues People are the driving force of a company; to unleash that force, the patrimonial approach should be changed to more liberal and liberating methods.
• The Global Water Crisis: Issues and Solutions The water crisis has now been associated with the reduction in food quantity besides the scarcity of safe drinking water.
• Global Nursing Issues: Challenges, Strategies and Advocating for Health Care Every person is entitled to quality health support and care. Unfortunately, many underdeveloped nations find it hard to deliver quality health care to their citizens.
• Global Societal Issue: Food and Water Security According to research, food and water security is a pertinent global problem in the current decade, with access to food and water becoming scarce in certain world regions.
• Global Issues in Healthcare: Cultural Competence and Patient Safety Within the framework of domestic issues’ impact on US HCM, the supporting systems are affected to the greatest extent.
• Articles about Global Issues: Reading Summary and Reflective Comments This paper presents reading summary and reflective comments on two articles: “Understanding international law” and “Global issues: Politics, economics, and culture”.
• Outbreak Investigation: Global Issues Outbreaks may occur frequently but not every case is reported. The investigation is important because it helps to learn more about the cases to put appropriate prevention and control measures.
• Global Health Policy Issue: Africa There is global inequality in terms of health service delivery in Africa. The main problems that make health delivery a problem are poverty, illiteracy, and inequality.
• Global Issues, Advocacy & Caregiving for Patients in India This paper will examine the global issue, advocacy, and caregiving for people who have been infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in India.
• Globalization and Related Environmental Issues Globalization supports the flow of raw materials, wastes, and pollutants from one region to another. The wave of industrialization does not care much about environmental issues.
• Global Human Rights Progress and the Role of National Cultural Value Systems This paper aims to investigate arguments in favor and against the claim that there has been progressing in developing global human rights over the last twenty years.
• Global Pandemic Issues: Prevention of Infection and Transmission of COVID-19 For the last seven months, the world has been dealing with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The disease is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
• Global Health Issues, Tuberculosis Tuberculosis is often latent and reveals itself when the immune system is weak. The TB incidence rates in Southeast Asia and Africa remain the highest in the world.
• Education With Regard to Globalization Issues Education is very important for representatives of the modern global community as would-be professionals and labor force.
• Global Warming as Not a New-Fangled Issue Analytical research and an explanatory research have been seen to be helpful in many ways in order to increase the awareness that an audience has about the issues as global warming.
• “Global Issues: Third Edition” by John L. Seitz The third edition of the book “Global issues” by Seitz is an introductory analysis of most of the factors that influence the environment, economy, and society.
• Terrorism as Global Issue and Preventive Laws Terrorism is one of the actions that should be punished the hardest because it takes innocent life each time, no matter the justification of it.
• Global Awareness of Environmental and Moral Issues Global awareness entails the aspect of making people, the society, have an understanding of various life issues that is based on knowledge of global perspectives.
• Global Issues Influencing Compensation in the US Compensation is a systematic approach of providing monetary value and other benefits to employees in exchange for their work and service.
• Compounded Global Issues: Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, and Climate Change
• The Global Issues Depicted in “Home”, a Documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
• Global Issues, Local Solutions: Rethinking Wealth and Health Through the Lens of Social Enterprise
• Global Issues of the Present and Ways to Overcome Them
• Understanding Global Issues Is More Important Than Ever
• Environment-Related Global Issues: Global and Regional Conventions and the Role of the Third World
• Teaching for Sustainable Development Through Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy
• Global Crimes Cause Global Issues That Affect the National and International Justice System
• Legal and Global Issues Focused on Treating Undocumented Immigrants
• Global Issues: What We Can Do to Solve the Biggest Problems in the World
• Solving Major Global Issues by Founding a System on Ethical Principles in Simon Blackburn’s Book
• Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Issues
• The Politics of Marriage and Gender: Global Issues in Local Contexts
• Global Issues for Global Citizens: An Introduction to Key Development Challenges
• The Overpopulation of the Earth as a Global Issue: Are There Humane Ways to Prevent It?
• Critical Global Issues: What Are the World’s Biggest Problems and How Can We Help?
• The Secret to Solving Global Issues? Fewer Secrets, More Collaboration
• Global Issues and Challenges Beyond Ottawa: The Way Forward
• Top Ten Global Economic Issues: An Assessment of Global Risks and Priorities
• Science and Technology Cooperation on Global Issues
• Climate Change and Pollution: Serious Global Issues
• The Concept, Content, and Nature of Contemporary Global Issues
• Global Issues of Environment and Health
• Top 20 Current Global Issues That Need to Be Addressed
• How Cigarette Smoking Relates to Global Issues of the Future
• The Gay Marriage Debate: Contemporary Global Issues
• Lack of Fresh Water Is Becoming a Global Issue of Increasing Importance
• Global Issues and Change in Human Resource Management
• Poor News Coverage and Public Opinion on Global Issues
• Global Issues Surrounding the Millennium Development Goals
• Social and Global Issues and Trends in Adult Education
• Global Issues Within the First Civilizations
• Are Caste Systems a Global or a Local Issue?
• S. and India Global Issues Pertaining to Women
• How Global Issues Impact Individual States
• Global Issues in Finance and Accounting
• Environmental Problems Are Becoming a Global Issue
• Three Reasons Why You Should Care About Global Issues
• Global Issues: Violence and Peace in the Modern Age
• Canada’s Efforts to Address Global Issues
• What Global Issues Are Most Threatening?
• Are Gender Rights and Gender Discrimination Global Issues?
• Why Is It Important to Be Aware of the Global Issues in Society?
• How Do Global Issues Affect the Whole World?
• What Are the Top Global Issues in the World?
• Why Is Poverty a Global Issue?
• How Do Global Issues Impact Undeveloped Countries?
• What Is the Biggest Global Issue Today?
• Why Is Understanding Global Issues Important?
• How Do Global Issues Affect Communication?
• What Is an Important Global Issue That Impacts the Future?
• Why Is It Important to Learn About Global Contemporary Issues?
• How Can We Stop Global Issues?
• What Are the Major Contemporary Global Issues Facing the World in the 21st?
• How Can You Help Solve the Different Global Issues?
• What Is the Concept of Global Issues?
• Does Technology Help With Global Issues?
• What Are the Causes of Global Issues?
• Are Global Issues Important in Our Society Today?
• What Is the Most Important Global Issue We Face?
• How Has Technology Become a Solution to Global Issues?
• What Causes Global Issues?
• How Can We Turn Global Issues Into Innovation-Led Opportunities?
• Is Climate Change the Most Important Global Issue?
• What Global Issues Have Emerged Because of Globalization?

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StudyCorgi . "104 Global Issues Essay Topics." June 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/global-issues-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "104 Global Issues Essay Topics." June 5, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/global-issues-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Global Issues were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 21, 2024 .

These are the biggest global risks we face in 2024 and beyond

From disinformation to inflation, these are the world's most pressing risks. Image:  Unsplash/Ryoji Iwata

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Ellissa cavaciuti-wishart.

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Stay up to date:, global cooperation.

• The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 says the biggest short-term risk stems from misinformation and disinformation.
• In the longer term, climate-related threats dominate the top 10 risks global populations will face.
• Two-thirds of global experts anticipate a multipolar or fragmented order to take shape over the next decade.

The cascading shocks that have beset the world in recent years are proving intractable. War and conflict, polarized politics, a continuing cost-of-living crisis and the ever-increasing impacts of a changing climate are destabilizing the global order.

The key findings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 reflect these most pressing challenges faced by people in every region of the world.

A pessimistic global outlook

The report reveals a world “plagued by a duo of dangerous crises: climate and conflict.” These threats are set against a backdrop of rapidly accelerating technological change and economic uncertainty.

The findings are based on the Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey, which gathers insights from nearly 1,500 global experts from academia, business, government, the international community and civil society.

Have you read?

The four key ways disinformation is spread online, will a regional conflict re-tangle global supply chains, this is what the climate crisis is costing economies around the world.

As the chart above shows, optimism among respondents was in short supply. More than half (54%) anticipate a significant degree of instability and a moderate risk of global catastrophes. Another 30% see things getting even worse, envisioning looming global catastrophes and with a “stormy” or “turbulent” period ahead in the next two years.

Expand that view out to 10 years and the pessimism among respondents grows. By 2034, almost two-thirds (63%) predict a stormy or turbulent world order.

Breaking down the risks

While climate-related risks remain a dominant theme, the threat from misinformation and disinformation is identified as the most severe short-term threat in the 2024 report.

The growing concern about misinformation and disinformation is in large part driven by the potential for AI, in the hands of bad actors, to flood global information systems with false narratives.

In response to the uncertainties surrounding generative AI and the need for robust AI governance frameworks to ensure responsible and beneficial outcomes for all, the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) has launched the AI Governance Alliance .

The Alliance will unite industry leaders, governments, academic institutions, and civil society organizations to champion responsible global design and release of transparent and inclusive AI systems.

Over the next two years, the report states, “foreign and domestic actors alike will leverage misinformation and disinformation to widen societal and political divides”. This risk is enhanced by a large number of elections in the near future, with more than 3 billion people due to head to the polls in 2024 and 2025, including in major economies like the United States, India and the United Kingdom.

The report suggests that the spread of mis- and disinformation around the globe could result in civil unrest, but could also drive government-driven censorship, domestic propaganda and controls on the free flow of information.

In a 10-year context, climate-related risks contribute 5 of the top 10 threats as the world nears or crosses “climate tipping points”.

The risk posed by extreme weather events tops the list as nations remain unprepared for the “triggering of long-term, potentially irreversible and self-perpetuating changes to select planetary systems [which] could be passed at or before 1.5C of global warming, currently anticipated to be reached by the early 2030s”.

While the threat of extreme weather is seen as an immediate one, there was disagreement about the urgency of other climate-related risks such as the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem collapse. Concern about these risks was significantly higher among younger respondents to the survey, prompting fears that mitigation could be delayed beyond the point where meaningful action can be taken.

Opportunities for responding to global risks

With diminishing trust, political polarization and a volatile geopolitical landscape, the potential for cooperation to tackle global risks is under pressure. The report finds that solutions could emerge as a result of more localized cooperation on the part of nations, corporations and even individual citizens.

However, given the scale of the economic, political and environmental challenges the world is facing, the report concludes that, “cross-border collaboration at scale remains critical for risks that are decisive for human security and prosperity”.

This will be a focus at the 2024 World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, taking place under the theme Rebuilding Trust. The programme urges a “back to basics” spirit of open and constructive dialogue between leaders of government, business and civil society.”

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License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

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101 Global Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Global issues are a complex and multifaceted part of our world today. From climate change to poverty, these issues affect people all over the world and require collaborative efforts to address. If you are looking for essay topics on global issues, here are 101 ideas to get you started:

• The impact of climate change on global food security
• The role of the United Nations in addressing global conflicts
• The effects of globalization on developing countries
• The rise of nationalism and its implications for global cooperation
• The ethical implications of genetic engineering
• The challenges of providing clean water to all people
• The impact of social media on global communication
• The role of women in peacebuilding efforts
• The effects of deforestation on biodiversity
• The importance of universal healthcare
• The consequences of income inequality
• The role of technology in addressing global challenges
• The impact of migration on global economies
• The ethics of drone warfare
• The effects of nuclear proliferation
• The challenges of combating infectious diseases
• The role of education in promoting global citizenship
• The consequences of overfishing
• The impact of artificial intelligence on the job market
• The ethics of animal testing
• The effects of urbanization on the environment
• The importance of renewable energy sources
• The challenges of providing education to all children
• The implications of cyber warfare
• The role of the media in shaping public opinion
• The consequences of mass incarceration
• The impact of terrorism on global security
• The ethics of humanitarian intervention
• The effects of child labor on global economies
• The challenges of combating human trafficking
• The role of religion in global conflicts
• The consequences of water scarcity
• The importance of protecting indigenous rights
• The ethics of animal conservation
• The effects of plastic pollution on marine life
• The implications of artificial intelligence on privacy
• The challenges of addressing climate refugees
• The role of diplomacy in resolving international disputes
• The consequences of deforestation on indigenous communities
• The impact of social media on mental health
• The ethics of genetic modification
• The effects of air pollution on public health
• The importance of promoting gender equality
• The challenges of combating drug trafficking
• The implications of autonomous weapons
• The role of international organizations in promoting peace
• The consequences of human rights violations
• The impact of corruption on global economies
• The ethics of animal rights
• The effects of population growth on natural resources
• The challenges of providing healthcare in conflict zones
• The role of the private sector in addressing global challenges
• The consequences of climate change on indigenous cultures
• The importance of preserving cultural heritage
• The ethics of bioengineering
• The effects of soil degradation on agriculture
• The implications of mass surveillance
• The challenges of promoting sustainable tourism
• The role of education in preventing extremism
• The consequences of food insecurity
• The impact of armed conflict on civilian populations
• The ethics of genetic privacy
• The effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems
• The importance of promoting religious tolerance
• The challenges of combating cybercrime
• The implications of mass migration
• The role of international aid in promoting development
• The consequences of wildlife trafficking
• The impact of income inequality on social cohesion
• The ethics of human enhancement
• The effects of urban sprawl on natural habitats
• The importance of promoting intercultural dialogue
• The challenges of addressing mental health stigma
• The implications of water privatization
• The role of social entrepreneurship in addressing global challenges
• The consequences of gender-based violence
• The impact of climate change on indigenous knowledge
• The ethics of biohacking
• The effects of land degradation on food security
• The importance of protecting cultural diversity
• The challenges of combating cyberbullying
• The implications of mass incarceration on communities of color
• The role of education in promoting social justice
• The consequences of wildlife habitat loss
• The impact of human trafficking on vulnerable populations
• The ethics of environmental conservation
• The effects of electronic waste on developing countries
• The importance of promoting mental health awareness
• The challenges of addressing refugee integration
• The implications of artificial intelligence on democracy
• The role of international law in promoting human rights
• The consequences of water pollution on public health
• The impact of climate change on cultural heritage
• The ethics of biofuels
• The effects of deforestation on indigenous rights 96

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How to Write the Political and Global Issues College Essay

Essays are one of the best parts of the college application process. With your grades in, your test scores decided, and your extracurriculars developed over your years in high school, your essays are the last piece of your college application that you have immediate control over. With them, you get to add a voice to your other stats, a “face” to the name, so to speak. They’re an opportunity to reveal what’s important to you and what sets you apart from other applicants and tell the admissions committee why you’d be an excellent addition to their incoming student class.

Throughout your college applications process, there are many different types of essays you’ll be asked to write. Some of the most popular essay questions you’ll see might include writing about an extracurricular, why you want to matriculate at a school, and what you want to study.

Increasingly, you might also see a supplemental college essay asking you to discuss a political or global issue that you’re passionate about. Asking this type of question helps colleges understand what you care about outside of your personal life and how you will be an active global citizen.

Some examples from the 2019-2020 cycle include:

Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service : Briefly discuss a current global issue, indicating why you consider it important and what you suggest should be done to deal with it.

Yeshiva University Honors Programs : What is one issue about which you are passionate?

Pitzer College : Pitzer College is known for our students’ intellectual and creative activism. If you could work on a cause that is meaningful to you through a project, artistic, academic, or otherwise, what would you do?

Your GPA and SAT don’t tell the full admissions story

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographics, and other holistic details. We’ll let you know what your chances are at your dream schools — and how to improve your chances!

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details.

Our chancing engine factors in extracurricular activities, demographic, and other holistic details. We’ll let you know what your chances are at your dream schools — and how to improve your chances!

Tips for Writing the Political and Global Issues College Essay

Pick an issue close to your life.

When you first see a political and global issues prompt, your gut reaction might be to go with a big-picture topic that’s all over the news, like poverty or racism. The problem with these topics is that you usually have a page or less to talk about the issue and why it matters to you. Students also might not have a direct personal connection to such a broad topic. The goal of this essay is to reveal your critical thinking skills, but the higher-level goal of every college essay is to learn more about who you are.

Rather than go with a broad issue that you’re not personally connected to, see if there’s just one facet of it that you  can  contend with. This is especially important if the prompt simply asks for “an issue,” and not necessarily a “global issue.” While some essay prompts will specifically ask that you address a  global  issue (like Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service), there are still ways to approach it from a more focused perspective.

For example, if you were to talk about world hunger, you could start with the hunger you see in your community, which is a food desert. For your solution, you can discuss your plan to build a community garden, so the town is able to access fresh produce. Food deserts, of course, aren’t the only reason world hunger exists; so, you should also explore some other reasons, and other solutions. Maybe there is a better way to prevent and recuperate produce currently being wasted, for instance. If the prompt doesn’t specifically ask for a global issue, however, you could simply focus on food deserts.

For another example, maybe you want to talk about climate change. A more personal and focused approach would deal with happenings in your community, or a community you’ve had contact with. For instance, perhaps your local river was polluted because of textile industry waste; in this case, it would be fitting to address fast fashion specifically (which is still a global issue).

Remember your audience

As you’re approaching this essay, take care to understand the political ramifications of what you’re suggesting and how the school you’re addressing might react to it. Make sure you understand the school’s political viewpoints, and keep in mind that schools are hoping to see how you might fit on their campus based on your response.

So, if you’re applying to a school known for being progressive, like Oberlin or Amherst, you might not want to write an essay arguing that religious freedom is under threat in America. Or, if you’re applying to Liberty University, you should probably avoid writing an essay with a strong pro-LGBTQ stance. You don’t have to take the opposite position, but try picking a different issue that won’t raise the same concerns.

If you have no political alignment, choose economics

If you find yourself applying to a school with which you share no political viewpoints, you might want to consider if the school would even be a good fit for you. Why do you really want to go there? Are those reasons worth it? If you think so, consider writing about an economic issue, which tend to be less contentious than social issues.

For instance, you could write about the impact of monopolies because your parents own an independent bookstore that has been affected by Amazon. Or you could discuss tax breaks for companies that keep or move their production domestically, after seeing how your town changed when factories were moved abroad. Maybe tax filing is a cause you’re really passionate about, and you think the government should institute a free electronic system for all. No matter what you write about here, the key is to keep it close to home however you can.

Pick the best possible framing

When you’re writing an essay that doesn’t fully align with the political views of the school you’re applying to, you’ll want to minimize the gap between your viewpoint and that of the school. While they still might disagree with your views, this will give your essay (and therefore you) the best possible chance. Let’s say you’re applying to a school with progressive economic views, while you firmly believe in free markets. Consider these two essay options:

Option 1:  You believe in free markets because they have pulled billions out of terrible poverty in the developing world.

Option 2:  “Greed is good,” baby! Nothing wrong with the rich getting richer.

Even if you believe equally in the two reasons above personally, essay option 1 would be more likely to resonate with an admissions committee at a progressive school.

Let’s look at another, more subtle example:

Option 1:  Adding 500 police officers to the New York City public transit system to catch fare evaders allows officers to unfairly and systematically profile individuals based on their race.

Option 2:  The cost of hiring 500 additional police officers in the New York City public transit system is higher than the money that would be recouped by fare evasion.

While you might believe both of these things, a school that places a lower priority on race issues may respond better to the second option’s focus on the fallible economics of the issue.

Structuring the Essay

Depending on how long the essay prompt is, you’ll want to use your time and word count slightly differently. For shorter essays (under 250 words), focus on your personal connection rather than the issue itself. You don’t have much space and you need to make it count. For standard essays (250-500 words), you can spend about half the time on the issue and half the time on your personal connection. This should allow you to get more into the nuance. For longer essays, you can write more on the issue itself. But remember, no matter how long the essay is, they ultimately want to learn about you–don’t spend so much time on the issue that you don’t bring it back to yourself.

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8 Global Issue Topics for Essays and Research Papers

10 Global Issue Topics for Essays and Research

• Water Contamination and Shortage:  2.1 billion people in countries undergoing urbanization have inaccessibility to clean drinking water as a result of pollution, poverty and poor management of resources. Water resources are depleted by agriculture and industry energy production. To put into perspective, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the reduction of water around the world, with 75 percent of a given countries’ water used for this purpose and depleted by contamination . Fortunately, there has been a recent increase in efforts to develop technology to combat contamination and reduce the rate of water depletion.
• The Relationship between Education and Child Labor:  Despite a surge in funding for some countries and increasing attention through social media, education continues to be a luxury around the globe. Reasons include gender preferences and poverty, and child labor — the use of children in industry. According to UNICEF, 150 million children participate in laborious activities dangerous to their health. As one can imagine, this work hinders a child’s ability to fully invest in education. Therefore it’s most challenging to bring education to sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates of children enrolled in primary education continue to stagger. In addition, fewer students successfully complete secondary education here.
• Violence:  Violence is a global issue that exists in all shapes and sizes. Violence can be done towards a particular group like women or LGBTQ+ members, or it is an act that can be a result of a mentally disturbed mind. There is also violence in response to economic stress. All these varying forms of violence lead to attention on the safety and prevention of such acts. However, there isn’t much consideration on how an everyday person can help. In discussions about violence, the biggest questions to answer are: How is this violence used? How is it achieved/accessed? Does the media have a role? How much is the foundation for a particular act of violence is personal? What is the overall goal?
• Poverty:  In 2015, the International Poverty Line was set to $1.90. This number means that a person is living in extreme poverty if they live below this line. According to this set line, more than 1.3 billion people are living in this extreme worldwide. This fact suggests that 1.3 billion people have difficulty obtaining food and shelter, regardless of the availability of homeless shelters and organizations . Current questions or topics to explore in an essay or research would be the cause of variation in wages on the international level, and the nature and initiatives that can be taken to solve this global issue at large.
• Inequality:  On a global scale, the focus on inequality tends to be in terms of the distribution of wealth. According to a Global Wealth Report, 44 percent of global net worth is held by only 0.7 percent of adults. This suggests that there is a significant division between economic classes around the world. Recently, research has shown the effects that this economic divide has on communities particularly in health, social relationships, development and stability . For example, in a society where there’s a large gap between the rich and the poor, life expectancy tends to be shorter and mental illness and obesity rates are 2 to 4 times higher. In terms of social relationships, inequality on a larger level introduces more violence and crime.
• Terrorism:  Terrorism like the bombing incidents of the last few years continue to claim the lives of innocents. It is a threat to the peace, security and stability of the world, so terrorism prevention methods have been implemented to illustrate what is wrong and should be/could be done to uphold justice . However, the basis of the threats, mindsets and the successes/failures of response efforts still need to be evaluated.
• Child Marriages:  Child marriages are defined as the union between one or two individuals under the age of 18. One in five girls are married before the age of 18, and child marriages prevent children from becoming educated, can lead to severe health consequences and increased risk of violence. Legislation and programs were established in order to educate and employ children in these situations as child marriages do not have enough awareness on individual involvement or emphasis on the common causes for these marriages.
• Food:  Poverty, economic inequality and water contamination mean inability to produce sufficient amounts of food to sustain a population. This can, in turn, lead to poorer health and decreased energy to carry out physical and mental functions, leading to more poverty. By 2050, the world would need to find food for approximately nine billion people as cost of production for food will rise in response to the increased amount of individuals. Thus, the United Nations established programs to ensure food security and technology companies make efforts to reduce food production costs.

The Role of Essays and Research

There has been increasing progress towards solving the global issues; however, for some, this progress is too slow due to lack of understanding of preventative methods, diffusion of responsibility and unanswered questions. These global issue topics for essays and research papers can be used as a starting point to give more insight to others into the issues and how to get involved.

– Stephanie Singh Photo: Flickr

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Top 20 Current Global Issues We Must Address

What are the most pressing issues in the world today? What will demand the most attention in the next 5, 10, and 20+ years? In this article, which frequently refers to the World Economic Forum’s 17th Edition of the Global Risks Report, we’ll highlight 20 current global issues we must address, including issues related to climate change, COVID-19, social rights, and more. While it’s hardly a comprehensive discussion, it’s a solid introduction to the kinds of concerns facing our world today.

#1. Poverty

In fall 2022, the World Bank will update the International Poverty Line from $1.90 to $2.15. This means anyone living on less than $2.15 is in “extreme poverty.” Why the change? Increases in the costs of food, clothing, and shelter between 2011-2017 make the “real value of $2.15 in 2017 prices equal to $1.90 in 2011 prices. As for the World Bank’s goal to reduce extreme poverty to 3% or less by 2030, the pandemic has made it even harder. Extreme poverty isn’t the only poverty we have to contend with. 62% of the global population lives on less than $10/day. While there’s been progress over the years, the end of poverty is still far off.

Learn more about tackling poverty with an online course: Poverty & Population: How Demographics Shape Policy (Columbia University)

#2. Climate change

The IPCC released its sixth report in 2022. In its summary for policy-makers, the report’s authors outlined a series of near-term, mid-term, and long-term risks. If global warming reaches 1.5°C in the near term (2021-2040), it would cause “unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards,” as well as “multiple risks to ecosystems and humans.” In the long term, climate change will present major health issues, premature deaths, risks to cities and settlements , and other dangers. Mitigation is desperately needed – and fast. Because of climate change ’s connection to other issues on this list, it’s one of the most serious challenges facing humanity.

Learn more about climate change with an online course: Science and Engineering of Climate Change (EDHEC Business School)

#3. Food insecurity

According to the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises , which is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises, the number of people in crisis or worse is the highest it’s been in the six years since the report has existed. Close to 193 million people were experiencing acute food insecurity in 2021, which is an increase of almost 40 million since 2020. This represents a staggering 80% increase since 2016. Causes include “economic shocks,” like an increase in global food prices. Domestic food price inflation in low-income countries also rose a lot. “Weather-related disasters” are also a big driver. For 15.7 million people in 15 countries, it was the primary driver of acute food insecurity.

Learn more about food insecurity with an online course: Feeding the World (University of Pennsylvania)

#4. Refugee rights

According to UNHCR, the war in Ukraine sparked the fastest-growing refugee crisis since WWII. Almost 6 million (as of May 10, 2022) people have fled. The UNCHR’s Refugee Brief , which compiles the week’s biggest refugee stories, has recently described situations in places like Somalia, where thousands of people were displaced due to severe drought. Between January and mid-April, more than 36,000 refugees from Nigeria, Mali, and Burkina Faso arrived in Niger. These are only a few examples of the refugee crises, which endangers already marginalized groups – like women and children – and puts them at an increased risk of trafficking , violence, and death.

Learn more about refugee rights with an online course: Refugees in the 21st Century (University of London)

#5. COVID-19

The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2022. It will continue to be a major issue for the world. The WEF’s Global Risks Report 2022 discusses COVID’s effects at length , including major economic recovery disparities and social erosion. According to a January 2022 article from NPR , there are also issues with vaccinations as many countries continue to have trouble getting doses. Distribution, vaccine hesitancy, healthcare systems, and other problems also factor into low vaccination rates. While we may never know the exact impact, the WHO estimates that between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, there were around 14.9 million excess deaths linked to COVID-19.

Learn more about the impact of COVID-19 with an online course: Life After COVID-19: Get Ready for our Post-Pandemic Future (Institute for the Future)

#6. Future pandemic preparation and response

COVID-19 taught the world the importance of prepardeness. In a Harvard blog , Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, outlined the lessons the world should take to heart. The first: science has to guide policy. The politicization of the pandemic led to a lot of unnecessary damage. Another lesson is that science must pair with equity or it can actually make inequalities worse. This is obvious when looking at how low-income countries struggled to get the vaccines while wealthier countries stocked up. More resilient healthcare systems are also a must, as well as more coherent, global plans on how to respond. The world must also invest in research on contagious diseases, zoonotic diseases, the effectiveness of outbreak responses, and more.

Learn more about future pandemic response with an online course: Pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response (Politecnico di Milano)

#7. Healthcare

The healthcare industry has experienced major shifts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Economic Forum, there’s been new investments and innovations, especially from the technology and telehealth sectors. In 2021, $44 billion was spent on health innovation. The world will be seeing the effects of these innovations for years to come, though equity will no doubt be a major issue. In places like the United States, the pandemic also reaffirmed how broken healthcare systems can be. In an MIT News blog , Andrea Campbell, a professor of political science, says the pandemic revealed a “dire need” for investments in public-health infrastructure, as well as a need to expand healthcare access and insurance coverage.

Learn more about health inequity issues with an online course: Addressing Racial Health Inequity in Healthcare (University of Michigan)

#8. Mental health

Globally, almost 1 billion people have some form of mental disorder. The pandemic made the world’s mental health worse. According to a scientific brief from the WHO , there’s been a 25% increase in anxiety and depression worldwide. Causes include social isolation, fear of sickness, grief, and financial anxieties. Health workers were also severely impacted, as well as young women and girls. The brief also highlights how the pandemic disrupted many mental health services, including services for substance abuse. Countries need to ensure access to mental health services as part of their COVID-19 recovery plans and beyond. It’s an economic decision, as well. The Lancet states that anxiety and depression alone cost the global economy around $1 trillion a year.

Learn more about mental health with an online course: The Science of Well-Being (Yale University)

#9. Disability rights

According to the WHO , over 1 billion people have some form of disability. Half can’t afford healthcare. They’re also more likely to live in poverty than those without a disability, have poorer health outcomes, and have less access to work and education opportunities. Human Rights Watch lists other discriminations disabled people face, such as an increased risk of violence. There’s been progress regarding disability rights, but many countries lack strong protections. The world still has a long way to go to ensure equality for those with disabilities.

Learn more about disability rights with an online courses: Disability Awareness and Support (University of Pittsburgh)

#10. LGBTQ+ rights

Members of the LGBTQ+ community face discrimination in many forms. According to Amnesty International , discrimination can target sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics. Even in more progressive countries like the United States, people face violence and discrimination. According to the Human Rights Campaign, more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were proposed in 2022. At least a dozen states are considering legislation that forbids schools from discussing or using a curriculum that covers sexual orientation and gender identity. Considering the United States’ influence in the world, this attack on LGBTQ+ rights will likely have consequences that need to be addressed.

Learn more about LGBTQ+ issues with an online courses .

#11. Reproductive justice

Reproductive justice – which encompasses more than just abortion rights – is threatened by legislation, lack of funding, lack of education, and restricted healthcare access. In most places, wealth is a big determinant of whether a person can access reproductive services. It’s better in some places than others, but as we’ve seen with other issues on this list, even “progressive” countries like the United States are experiencing major shifts. In June 2022, the Supreme Court is expected to overrule Roe v. Wade , a milestone court case that protected a pregnant woman’s right to abortion. The impact would be immediate and will likely influence other countries.

Learn more about reproductive justice and women’s rights: International Women’s Health and Human Rights (Stanford University)

#12. Children’s rights

Children are a very vulnerable group. In 2019, around 5.2 million children under five from mostly preventable and treatable causes. 2.4 million were newborns under 28 days old. Leading causes include preterm birth complications, pneumonia, and malaria. According to UNICEF, the climate crisis also represents a severe threat to kids. Around 1 billion kids live in “extremely high-risk countries” that are hit by the worst effects of climate change. 920 kids have trouble accessing clean water and 600 million are exposed to vector-borne diseases like malaria. Child labor also remains an issue. At the beginning of 2020, around 160 million were forced into labor while COVID-19 put 9 million more kids at risk. That’s almost 1 in 10 children globally. Almost half are in dangerous environments. As is often the case, the other issues on this list – climate change, poverty, COVID, gender equality, etc – factor into children’s rights.

Learn more about children’s rights: Children’s Human Rights – An Interdisciplinary Introduction (University of Geneva)

#13. Gender equality

Global gender equality has gradually improved over the years, but data from the 2021 Global Gender Report shows that the end of the global gender gap is still 135 years away. The pandemic played a huge role in reversing positive trends as women were hit harder financially. According to Oxfam , women experienced a 5% job loss while men experienced 3.9%. That means women lost about $800 million in 2020. This is a low estimate since it doesn’t count the informal economy, which includes millions of women. Women are also more likely to live in poverty, more affected by gender-based violence, and more affected by climate change.

Learn more about gender equality: Gender Analytics: Gender Equity through Inclusive Design (University of Toronto)

#14. Cybersecurity

The WEF’s Global Risks Report 2022 (page 9) listed cybersecurity vulnerabilities as a concern. The reason is rapid digitalization, which was triggered in part by COVID-19. Many “advanced economies” are now at a higher risk for cyberattacks. GRPS respondents identified cybersecurity failure as a critical short-term risk. In 2020, malware and ransomware attacks went up by 358% and 435%. There are a few reasons for this, including better (and easier) attack methods and poor governance. Cyberattacks have a swath of serious consequences and erode public trust. As countries become more dependent on digitalization, their cybersecurity needs to keep up.

Learn more about cybersecurity: IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Professional Certificate (IBM)

#15. Disinformation

Rapid digitalization comes with many issues, including the lightning-fast spread of disinformation. The WEF report describes deepfakes, an accessible AI technology, and its potential to sway elections and other political outcomes. Disinformation doesn’t need to be sophisticated to be successful, however. Through social media posts and videos, twelve anti-vax activists were responsible for almost ⅔ of all anti-vaccine content on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Their content flooded the internet with the type of harmful, fear-mongering disinformation that played a significant role in vaccine hesitancy and political radicalization. Because disinformation travels faster online than the truth, it’s a global issue that should be addressed.

Learn more about tackling disinformation: Communicating Trustworthy Information in the Digital World (University of Rotterdam)

#16. Freedom of the press

According to the Varieties of Democracy Institute (as reported in The Economist ), about 85% of people live in a country where press freedom has gone down in the past 5 years. After peaking at .65 in the early 2000s and 2011, the global average dropped to .49 in 2021. Major countries like China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Turkey saw significant declines. Journalists and news organizations face threats like violence, imprisonment, lack of funding, and coordinated online attacks and harassment. A free press is essential to a functioning democracy. Without press freedom, all human rights are at risk.

Learn more about freedom of expression: Human Rights for Open Societies (Utrecht University)

#17. Debt crises

In the WEF Global Risks Report (page 7), respondents named debt crises as one of the most pressing issues over the next decade, though respondents believe they will become most serious in just 3-5 years. COVID-19 is a big reason why. Government stimulus was necessary, but many countries are now left with debt burdens. For corporate and public finances in large economies, debt burdens can lead to defaults, bankruptcies, insolvency, and more. This is a far-reaching issue as it affects budgets for areas like healthcare and green energy.

Learn more about the debt: Finance for everyone – Debt (McMaster University)

#18. Corruption

Corruption encompasses a host of actions such as bribery, election manipulation, fraud, and state capture. The World Bank Group names corruption as a barrier to ending extreme poverty and “boosting shared prosperity” for the poorest populations. When it comes to addressing poverty, climate change, healthcare, gender equality, and more, corruption gets in the way. Because corruption is a global problem, global solutions are necessary. Reform, better accountability systems, and open processes will all help.

Learn more about tackling corruption: What is Corruption: Anti-Corruption and Compliance (University of Pennsylvania)

#19. Authoritarianism

According to Freedom House, global democracy is eroding. That includes countries with long-established democracies. In their 2022 report, the organization reveals that global freedom has been declining for the past 16 years. 60 countries faced declines in the last year. Only 25 saw improvements. Only 20% of the global population lives in Free countries. China, Russia, and other authoritarian countries have gained more power in the international system, while countries with established democracies – like the United States – are losing their freedoms. What can be done? Freedom House says success “requires a bold, sustained response that establishes support for democracy and countering authoritarianism.” Governments and citizens engage and stand for democracy.

Learn more about tackling authoritarianism: Citizenship and the Rule of Law (University of London)

#20. Global cooperation

Addressing the issues in this article is not an easy task. True progress is only possible through global cooperation, a fact which is woven through the WEF report. Everything from addressing cybersecurity threats to humanitarian emergencies to protecting democracy depends on strong cooperation between countries. As the report says in its preface: “Restoring trust and fostering cooperation within and between countries will be crucial to addressing these challenges and preventing the world from drifting further apart.” The challenges threatening global cooperation are just as clear as the need, however, which makes it one of the most serious issues of the day.

Learn more about global cooperation: Global Diplomacy: the United Nations in the World

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

11 Global Debates

Subscribe to global connection.

October 5, 2016

In 2006, the Brookings Institution determined that a standalone research program was needed to have the depth and breadth to explore the most pressing issues facing an increasingly globalized world. Ten years later, as Brookings celebrates its centenary , the Global Economy and Development program has become a source of innovative thinking on how to improve global economic cooperation and fight global poverty and sources of social stress.

In celebration of this anniversary, these 11 essays below reflect the Global Economy and Development program’s most recent work and delve into the critical issues facing all those concerned about globalization.

Are technology and globalization destined to drive up inequality?

Authors: Kemal Derviş , Laurence Chandy

Over the past several years, concerns that technology and globalization lead to ever greater inequality have reached fever pitch in the U.S. and beyond. To understand what’s behind this anxiety, three distinctions are useful.

Continue reading

Skills in the digital age—how should education systems evolve?

Authors: Rebecca Winthrop , Timothy P. Williams , Eileen McGivney

At no point in history have more children been enrolled in formal education. Thanks to global commitments and movements such as the Millennium Development Goals and Education For All, more than 90 percent of all primary-age children are now in school.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Land of promise or of peril?

Authors: Amadou Sy

After more than a decade of relatively strong economic progress, sub-Saharan Africa’s aggregate GDP growth is slowing as external shocks threaten recent advances. According to the International Monetary Fund’s April 2016 Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa, between 2000 and 2015, the continent grew at an average rate of 5.5 percent.

Where are Latin American economies headed?

Authors: Ernesto Talvi

For the better part of the past decade, close to 80 percent of countries in Latin America were ruled by center-left and populist governments. However, this hegemony seems to be coming to an end, with center-right parties recently rising to power in Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Peru. Should this come as a surprise? The short answer is no.

Can globalization be rescued from itself?

Authors: Homi Kharas , John W. McArthur

Globalization—the integration among national economies of markets for goods, services, technology, capital flows, and, to some degree, labor—has played an enormous role in advancing global prosperity. Yet a backlash has emerged, manifested in the recent U.K. Brexit vote, strident “local first” demands, and calls to block trade agreements. The issues are not entirely new.

Are certain countries doomed to remain emerging?

Authors: John Page

Incomes in developed and developing countries have been converging, especially since the turn of the century, but the unevenness of that trajectory merits further examination. Beginning in the early the 2000s, the average per capita income of developing countries (adjusted for purchasing power parity) has increased substantially relative to the average per capita income of developed countries.

GDP growth—is it “good-enough”? Or does it distort policy-making?

Authors: Carol Graham

Today, standard benchmarks of progress, productivity, job quality, and democracy are being upended. Income-based measures such as gross domestic product (GDP) served us well for decades, yet when GDP counts pollutant-generating economic activity on the positive side of the balance sheet, or when it fails to measure unpaid labor activity, it falls short. This is especially worrying given that we live in a world wracked by social inequities.

The U.S. and international trade: Why did things go sour?

Authors: Joshua P. Meltzer

Since 1945, the United States has led international efforts to expand trade and integrate markets, helping underpin U.S. as well as global growth. Yet 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is proposing policies that would turn the U.S. away from greater economic integration and likely provoke a trade war. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has backed away from supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement—a 12 nation trade deal signed by President Obama in February 2016.

Can the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement be met?

Authors: Amar Bhattacharya

The Paris Agreement on climate change overcame the notion of a “horse race” between development and climate responsibility. At its core is a promise to keep global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius” and to “pursue efforts for 1.5 Celsius or lower.” The agreement forms the basis of new international, cooperative, long-term climate change action plans with a shared sense of direction and responsibility.

Cities—Is better access key to sustainability?

Authors: Jeffrey Gutman , Nirav Patel

Nine years ago the global urban population surpassed the world’s rural population, making it clear that the fate of cities will determine our future prosperity. As enshrined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, for cities to thrive, action is needed to ensure that urban areas and human settlements are “inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.” With the October 2016 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Housing and Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador set to agree on a new global urbanization agenda for the next two decades, the time to advocate for inclusive, accessible cities is now.

The international monetary system—Is it fit for purpose?

Authors: Eswar Prasad

The key question concerning the international monetary system is whether it can function in a manner that promotes global economic and financial stability rather than become a source of instability in itself or a channel through which such instability becomes more pervasive.

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May 14, 2024

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As the world’s only truly universal global organization, the United Nations has become the foremost forum to address issues that transcend national boundaries and cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone.

To its initial goals of safeguarding peace, protecting human rights, establishing the framework for international justice and promoting economic and social progress, in the seven decades since its creation the United Nations has added on new challenges, such as AIDS, big data and climate change.

While conflict resolution and peacekeeping continue to be among its most visible efforts, the UN, along with its specialized agencies, is also engaged in a wide array of activities to improve people’s lives around the world – from disaster relief, through education and advancement of women, to peaceful uses of atomic energy.

This section offers an overview of some of these issues, and links to other resources, where you can get additional information.

The UN system plays a crucial role in coordinating assistance of all kinds — to help Africa help itself.  From promoting the development of democratic institutions, to the establishment of peace between warring nations, the UN is present on the ground supporting economic and social development and the promotion and protection of human rights.

The world’s population is ageing: virtually every country in the world is experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older persons in their population. The number of older persons, those aged 60 years or over, has increased substantially in recent years in most countries and regions, and that growth is projected to accelerate in the coming decades.

HIV infections have been reduced by 59% since the peak in 1995, (by 58% among children since 2010) and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 69% since the peak in 2004 and by 51% since 2010. Globally 46% of all new HIV infections were among women and girls in 2022. The UN family has been in the vanguard of this progress.

Atomic Energy

More than 30 countries worldwide are operating 413 nuclear reactors for electricity generation and 58 new nuclear plants are under construction. By the end of 2022, 12 countries relied on nuclear energy to supply at least one-quarter of their total electricity.

Big Data for Sustainable Development

The volume of data in the world is increasing exponentially. New sources of data, new technologies, and new analytical approaches, if applied responsibly, can allow to better monitor progress toward achievement of the SDGs in a way that is both inclusive and fair.

Child and Youth Safety Online

Rising Internet connectivity has the potential to transform children and young people’s lives for the better, but also makes them vulnerable to sexual abuse, cyberbullying, and other risks. The UN is actively working to protect children and youth online through various programmes and initiatives.

Every child has the right to health, education and protection, and every society has a stake in expanding children’s opportunities in life. Yet, around the world, millions of children are denied a fair chance for no reason other than the country, gender or circumstances into which they are born.

Climate Change

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our time. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. 

• Decolonization

The wave of decolonization, which changed the face of the planet, was born with the UN and represents the world body’s first great success. As a result of decolonization many countries became independent and joined the UN.

Democracy is a universally recognized ideal and is one of the core values and principles of the United Nations. Democracy provides an environment for the protection and effective realization of human rights.

Disarmament

Since the birth of the United Nations, the goals of multilateral disarmament and arms limitation have been central to the Organization’s efforts to maintain international peace and security.

Ending Poverty

At current rates of progress, the world is unlikely to meet the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, with estimates suggesting that nearly 600 million people will still be living in extreme poverty.

The world is not on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger by 2030. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gender Equality

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.

The United Nations, since its inception, has been actively involved in promoting and protecting good health worldwide. Leading that effort within the UN system is the World Health Organization (WHO), whose constitution came into force on 7 April 1948.

Promoting respect for human rights is a core purpose of the United Nations and defines its identity as an organization for people around the world. Member States have mandated the Secretary-General and the UN System to help them achieve the standards set out in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights .

International Law and Justice

The UN continues to promote justice and international law across its three pillars of work: international peace and security, economic and social progress and development, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

International migration

Since the earliest times, humanity has been on the move. Today, more people than ever before live in a country other than the one in which they were born.

Oceans and the Law of the Sea

Life itself arose from the oceans. The ocean is vast, some 72 per cent of the earth's surface. Not only has the oceans always been a prime source of nourishment for the life it helped generate, but from earliest recorded history it has served for trade and commerce, adventure and discovery.

Saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war was the main motivation for creating the United Nations, whose founders lived through the devastation of two world wars.

In 1950, five years after the founding of the United Nations, world population was estimated at around 2.6 billion people. It reached 5 billion in 1987 and 6 in 1999. In October 2011, the global population was estimated to be 7 billion.

There were 110 million people forcibly displaced world-wide at the end of June 2023. Among those were 36.4 million refugees, (30.5 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate, and 5.94 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA's mandate). ;

Fresh water sustains human life and is vital for human health. There is enough fresh water for everyone on Earth. However, due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, millions of people (most of them children) die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.

As youth are increasingly demanding more just, equitable and progressive opportunities and solutions in their societies, the need to address the multifaceted challenges faced by young people (such as access to education, health, employment and gender equality) have become more pressing than ever.

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5 Global Issues to Watch in 2023

By Megan Roberts on December 20, 2022

Ukrainian war refugees wait in a long line at the border to cross into Poland. Displaced people, many of them women and children, wait up to eight hours, carrying with them just the basics, usually only a backpack. PHOTO: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Our Director of Policy Planning, Megan Roberts, takes stock of a tumultuous year that put global solidarity and cooperation to the test, and zeroes in on five key issues to watch in 2023.

In 2022 the blows to global cooperation came hard and fast. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine not only threatened the lives of millions of Ukrainians and violated the UN Charter, but it also accelerated a series of cascading and interconnected global crises in food, fuel, and energy. COVID-19 continued to batter the world, and new data showed how devastating the pandemic has been beyond its overwhelming harms to our health. Misinformation and disinformation presented clear and present threats to the health of people, communities, and political systems around the world. After reaching record levels in 2021, concentrations of greenhouse gases continued to rise this year, and dozens of natural disasters — extreme heat waves, floods, hurricanes — contributed to record levels of humanitarian need.

Extending their reach into households and pocketbooks, global crises left almost no one untouched. As the UN Secretary-General recently lamented , “Our world is facing the most pivotal, precarious moment in generations.”

These crises will shape 2023 as the world continues to grapple with the widespread consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19’s long tail.

Yet the year ahead also offers a remarkable opportunity. As the midpoint on the journey to 2030, 2023 will hold a series of crucial reviews to assess where we stand against ambitious global agreements on sustainable development, climate change, gender equity, financing, natural disasters, and universal health coverage, to name only a few.

Yet reviews alone won’t move the needle. Harnessing the opportunity will require an honest assessment of where we stand. The news will be overwhelmingly gloomy. But, taken together, these reviews will also offer a chance to build political momentum, ambitious new commitments, and inclusive coalitions to accelerate progress to 2030. In that sense, 2022 has built some strong foundations upon which the world can build to make the most of the year ahead. There is no time to wait.

Here are five key global issues to watch in 2023.

1. Rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to the SDGs, which were already off track before the pandemic forced the closure of schools, government services, and workplaces around the world. The pandemic erased more than four years of progress in eradicating poverty and pushed millions into extreme poverty. At current rates, 574 million people will still be living in poverty by 2030, nearly 7% of the world’s population, with most in Africa.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only worsened prospects, including by triggering global food shortages that disproportionately affected the world’s poorest people. Acute food insecurity has more than doubled since 2019. Developing economies are facing incredibly difficult choices as they struggle to manage rising food costs, the harms of climate change, and unsustainable debt burdens exacerbated by an inflation and liquidity crisis. The world’s poorest countries will likely be slapped with a 35% increase in their debt payments this year. It was this impossible situation that prompted Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, to call for major changes to the multilateral development and financing system through the creation of the Bridgetown Initiative.

Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, addresses the General Assembly’s 77th session, calling for major changes to the multilateral development and financing system. PHOTO: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Women and girls have borne the disproportionate brunt of SDG rollback, and pushed the world further from gender equality. Violence against women remains endemic. Women still face unacceptable barriers to exercising their rights. According to the United Nations Population Fund, in 2022 only 57% of women were able to make able to make their own decisions over their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Moreover, progress in expanding women’s representation in leadership positions remains unacceptably slow. Taken together, the World Economic Forum estimates that it will still take more than 130 years to close the global gender gap.

Next year offers a series of key moments that together can serve to generate the leadership, commitments, and partnerships needed to bend the SDG curve. In March, world leaders will come together in the Qatar capital of Doha for the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries to adopt a plan and articulate new commitments to support the countries that are furthest from achieving the SDGs. In July, at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York, more than 40 countries will provide an update on their progress on the goals, but more importantly, the gathering will serve as a moment to rally SDG champions across sectors leading into the UN General Assembly in September. It is there that the world will also come together for the SDG Summit, marking the halfway point of the Sustainable Development Agenda. The second Global Sustainable Development Report, published by an independent group of scientists appointed by the Secretary-General, will be released in the lead-up to the summit. It will provide an assessment of where we are making progress on the Goals and the extent of the rollback, and it will offer evidence-based guidance for how the world can accelerate SDG progress. It will be crucial that leaders embrace the central commitment of the SDGs to leave no one behind and inject urgency to the start of the second half of the Sustainable Development Agenda.

September will also mark the halfway point of the Generation Equality Forum , a pathbreaking partnership on gender equality launched in 2021 and underpinned by $40 billion in commitments. But commitments and plans won’t lead to change if merely left on paper, so the Forum’s midpoint gathering will focus on increasing accountability and traction across the Forum’s work.

Any effort to set the SDGs on the right track will hinge on renewed commitments to development financing, and leaders should come to next year’s high-level meeting on financing for development ready with new pledges. But crises this year have also given momentum to discussions on deeper reforms of the multilateral development finance system, as without such reforms the world will struggle to accelerate SDG progress. Prime Minister Mottley seeks to transform development finance to deliver for countries experiencing the triple crises of unsustainable debt, climate change, and inflation/liquidity through expanded lending, emergency liquidity for countries bearing unsustainable debt burdens, and the development of global systems to support countries experiencing a natural disaster or climate crisis. Spurred in part by her leadership, there is new energy in the push for World Bank reform. This focus on equity and justice could also generate momentum to give a greater voice to a larger number of countries during the review of International Monetary Fund (IMF) quotas set to conclude next December.

2. Taking Stock of an Intensifying Climate Crisis

An important breakthrough for climate justice occurred at COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with the agreement to establish new funding arrangements, including a “loss and damage” facility intended to provide support to countries already experiencing the consequences of climate change. This, combined with the launch of the Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative, represented important steps in 2022 to address the harms of climate change, which are disproportionately felt in developing countries. A series of important moments across the year generated new attention and commitments to advancing action to protect the world’s oceans. At the COP 15 on biodiversity, countries agreed to protect at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and oceans by 2030—amid tensions between some developed and developing countries.

Artificial reefs installed in Mon Choisy, Mauritius. The reefs provide a new home for fish that lost their natural habitats due to rising sea temperatures and protect beaches by breaking the force of the waves reaching the shores. PHOTO: Reuben Pillay/Climate Visuals

But these achievements came against a worrying backdrop. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) confirmed this year that limiting warming to 1.5oC over preindustrial levels, the Paris Agreement target, requires emissions to peak before 2025 and be reduced by more than 40% by 2030. Yet, the World Meteorological Organization’s Provisional State of the Global Climate indicates that emissions are set to rise again this year . Major natural disasters in 2022, including devastating flooding in Pakistan, underscore the need for urgent progress on climate adaptation.

The world will have an opportunity to show whether it is serious about addressing the harms of climate change at COP 28 next year, when countries are expected to agree to a new global goal on adaptation. COP 28 will also serve as the culmination of the first Global Stocktake on progress in implementing the Paris Agreement. Member States also gave themselves until COP 28 to agree to important details on how to establish the “loss and damage” facility negotiated this year. Difficult questions remain, including how the facility will be funded and allocated.

2023 will also serve as the midpoint check-in on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction . This review will focus on better understanding and addressing the systemic nature of risk and serve as an opportunity to rally political attention and ambition to reduce the risks posed by natural and human-caused disasters. Separately, negotiations will continue on a plastics treaty set to be agreed in 2024.

3. Managing the Fallout from COVID-19’s Long Tail

2022 began with a global surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant that contributed to the more than 300 million cases of the virus this year. Since its start, the pandemic has killed over 6.6 million people. Although the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines marked an incredible achievement of cooperation and COVAX , the UN-led global partnership to accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, demonstrated new forms of solidarity, vaccine access remains woefully unequal. As of December 2022 , 72.8% of people in high-income countries had received at least one dose, compared with only 28.9% of people in low-income countries. In addition, COVID-19 has dealt an important blow to wider immunization programs. The world registered a drop in immunization coverage from 86% in 2019 to 81% in 2021 . New pathogen threats also emerged this year, including the spread of mpox, which by December 2022 had registered more than 80,000 cases . All of this took place as policymakers, health care workers, and others struggled against waves of health-related misinformation and disinformation.

Students at the Mahendra Secondary School in Nepal receive the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the first phase of the campaign targeted at children aged five to 11 years. The launch of vaccinations for this age group was enabled by the 2.2 million pediatric vaccines donated to Nepal through the COVAX Facility. PHOTO: UNICEF/Laxmi Prasad Ngakhus

Recognizing the need to strengthen collective capacities to prepare for and respond to future pandemics, countries began negotiations on a new pandemic accord this year. The world also made important progress this year in financing for global health. A Pandemic Fund was established to support low- and middle-income countries to strengthen preparedness for future pandemics. Beyond COVID-19, in May, countries agreed to significantly increase the proportion of flexible and predictable financing available to the World Health Organization and a global pledging conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria generated more than $15.6 billion in commitments, the largest amount ever raised by a multilateral health fund.

In 2023, countries will roll up their sleeves to negotiate a pandemic accord, which is scheduled to be delivered in May 2024. In September, the world will come together for a record number of high-level meetings on global health at the UN General Assembly, on universal health coverage — marking the halfway point to achieve this goal by 2030 — tuberculosis, and pandemic preparedness and response. Global health will also be a top priority during the SDG Summit the same week, particularly given the widespread harms that COVID-19 caused across the SDG agenda.

4. Delivering record levels of humanitarian need driven by conflict and disaster

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to already historic levels of global humanitarian need and displacement.

Global forced displacement totaled 103 million people in mid-2022, an increase from 89.3 million at the end of 2021. According to the most recent Global Humanitarian Overview , in 2021 roughly 274 million people worldwide were in dire need of humanitarian assistance — already a 17% rise from the previous year. For 2023, that number is leaping yet again, bringing the number of people in need to 339 million, more than the population of the United States. This means 1 in every 23 people on the planet will need emergency assistance just to survive.

This dramatic rise represents millions of women, men, and children who have been pushed to the brink and already-vulnerable communities that find their very survival at risk. But while we now confront historic levels of global need and displacement, the source of these crises is nothing new: conflicts, both protracted and proliferating, and the increasingly dramatic effects of the climate emergency have intensified both the suffering of innocent civilians and the pressure on our multilateral system to deliver lifesaving support and solutions.

In 2022, the invasion of Ukraine laid bare the global interconnectivity of conflict. In Ukraine , 7.8 million people have fled the country and over 6.5 million have been displaced internally. Millions more suffered the agonizing weight of war and occupation, attacks on civilian infrastructure, and little to no access to food, water, medicine, and other essentials. Simultaneously, impacts of the war reverberated throughout the global system, accelerating worldwide shortages of food, fertilizer, and fuel. Heroic efforts have been made to avert a complete humanitarian catastrophe, such as the brokering of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has allowed for 11.2 million metric tons of grains and foodstuffs to leave Ukraine for global shipment since the deal was negotiated in July. But the World Food Programme still reports that as many as 828 million people globally go to bed hungry every night, and that a total of 49 million people in 49 countries are on the edge of famine. The threat of nuclear war or nuclear meltdown , and the catastrophic implications it would have on people and planet, has rarely felt more omnipresent.

In 2023, it is essential that the global community and our multilateral system learn from the lessons of this year, including the outpouring of support for Ukrainians forced to flee their country and the extensive efforts to manage the downstream impacts of the conflict. The vast ripple effects of persecution and conflict have been so clearly highlighted, and in the coming year we must better extend support — from sustained high levels of humanitarian funding to asylum and durable solutions for refugees — to crises absent from the front pages, from Haiti to the Sahel in North Africa, to Syria and everywhere in between. Lives hang in the balance. The cost of inaction is far too great.

5. Building more inclusive systems for international cooperation

Intersecting global crises and tensions between nations are stressing the UN and the wider multilateral system to a breaking point. At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Martin Kimani, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, warned that multilateralism was on its deathbed. Later in the year, the Secretary-General cautioned that geopolitical divides are “undermining all forms of international cooperation” and emphasized that “we cannot go on like this.”

The system managed to hold in 2022, and it even delivered some important diplomatic achievements . But the global interconnected crises across the year, which have directly touched nearly every person in the world, have also given new urgency and impetus to strengthening multilateral institutions and building more inclusive systems for cooperation. They have also demonstrated that we need better ways of looking ahead to understand, assess, and respond to fast-moving crises and wider trends shaping our world, from demographics to technology to systemic risks.

The series of midpoint check-ins next year on our 2030 goals are each important in their own right. Together, they represent a test of our credibility and the opportunity to ensure that when the next global crisis hits, more resilient systems are in place and we are better prepared to respond. 2023 will offer additional opportunities to build more inclusive and effective multilateral systems.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses COP15 in Montreal, Canada. The Secretary-General urged an end to “the war on nature,” warning that the loss of biodiversity comes with a steep human cost. PHOTO: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

A crucial opportunity lies in the preparations for a Summit of the Future in 2024. Next year, nations will begin negotiating key elements as proposed in the Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda report, released last year. These include a new agenda for peace, a global digital compact, and a declaration on future generations. A preparatory ministerial meeting at the UN General Assembly next year will offer leaders the chance to make a down payment on this ambitious set of proposals on the future of multilateralism.

Beyond the UN, India plans to use its G20 presidency to focus on multilateral reform and Japan has similar plans for its G7 presidency. We should also expect to see more serious efforts to make the multilateral system more inclusive and responsive to 21st century challenges, including across the UN Security Council, World Bank, and IMF.

Making the most of the opportunity at hand in 2023 will require a clear and honest look at where the world is off track without becoming hopeless about the scale of the challenge. Without doubt, global cooperation will be tested in new ways in the year ahead, and the urgency required to meet the 2030 deadlines will be laid even more bare. As humanitarian, health, and climate crises rage on, the world’s leaders will need to choose solidarity and step up for people and planet in unprecedented ways before the clock runs out. Far too much is at stake to make any other choice.

Kate Loomis, Special Assistant to the President and CEO, Policy & New Initiatives, and Cara Skelly, former Policy Planning intern contributed to this article.

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• Social Issues

Essay Sample on Global Issues Facing The World

It’s 2050, the teens of 2022 have just inherited the world but it’s in flames, unlivable, we don’t have enough resources to get into space, poverty has reached its peak. Earth, earth’s life, and the human race are doomed.

Now more than ever, we need to be more engaged with the things happening around them today. Issues such as racism,climate change, gender and sexuality equality, animal welfare, displaced people, war, identity security, and so much more are getting worse. We, the present day teens, must engage in these issues because they aren’t going away, we will inherit the mess adults leave behind, and we need to fix these issues now because we cannot afford to wait.

First of all, these issues are not going away. Adults in power are too lazy to do anything about these issues because it could cause them to not get as much money, or in some cases popularity. Politicians are too worried about themselves and the number of votes they get to focus on the real issues that won’t necessarily affect them but will affect younger and future generations. This selfishness and ignorance is causing important and valuable money to go towards the things that are affected- for example the Great Barrier Reef, but not solving the actual problem. They also forget that investing $1.8 trillion for these issues could generate $7.1 trillion in the future. The Selfishness and ignorance of people in power is causing these issues to not go away.

Furthermore, we will inherit this mess. When we, the present day teens, take the world into our hands the world will have fallen apart and the dreams we have now will be crushed. We won’t be able to live our lives and we won’t be able to make our own choices. The mental health of our generation and future generations will become even worse. Therefore future generations won’t be able to live without war and poverty at every corner and will not have a chance to see the beauty of the world at its highest point of joy and prosperity. When we inherit this mess of a world there will be nothing left unless we engage in these issues now.

Ultimately, we need to fix these issues now because we can’t afford to wait any longer. By 2030 the impacts and path of climate change will be irreversible and the Earth will go on a downward spiral to lifeless oblivion.  Additionally, 359 million people will be living in extreme poverty in today’s fragile states (63% of the world's poor) by 2030. The UN’s 2030 agenda is: people, prosperity, planet, partnership and peace - also known as the 5 ps, but the UN’s recent $100 billion promise to stop climate change was broken. The world will be nothing but ashes and rubble by the time we take it into our hands because of the lack of initiative and the slothfulness of those in power and influential people. We must fix these issues now or it will be too late.

To get involved you can educate yourself and others, voice your opinions and concerns to today’s decision-makers and people of influence- for example open letters. You can also help develop trusted sources of information and make a change now to influence those around you.

In conclusion, we must engage in critical issues because they aren’t going away, we will inherit this mess, and we need to fix these issues now because we can’t afford to wait. So get out there, educate yourself, make yourself heard, make a change yourself and save the world!

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An overview of global epidemics and the challenges faced

Nizam uddin.

1 Department of Nutrition and Food Engineering, Faculty of Allied Health Science, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Thamina Acter

2 Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

In this chapter, the global epidemiological events causing infections that ravaged humanity throughout its existence by bringing hardship to rich and poor nations alike are aggregated and presented. Among these, the largest known epidemics including the recent COVID-19 pandemic will be highlighted along with the analysis of the actual and common reason behind the occurring of all the epidemic scenarios. The epidemiological and nonepidemiological impacts of the most fatal pandemics recorded in history are also discussed. The vulnerable countries’ readiness for coping with epidemics is assessed in terms of different indices. Furthermore, the current and future challenges in fighting epidemiological events are on the frontline and a number of preparative measures and strategies have been suggested.

• • Global epidemic events, that is, plague, influenza, coronaviruses have been evolving from deadly human pathogens.
• • Most of the emerging pathogens are of “zoonotic” or animal origin.
• • Practicing nonpharmacological interventions is an effective weapon in fighting against an epidemic.
• • The 2019 Global Health Security Index indicated the weakness of global preparedness.
• • The next global pandemic is not so far away.
• • A number of preparative measures should be undertaken for tackling future epidemics.

1.1. Introduction to global epidemics

The disease of a living system is a mechanism of dysfunction that includes specific symptoms and signs that hinder the body’s normal homeostatic processes ( Wikipedia, 2020b ). Many external and internal factors may be responsible for a disease. Usually, there are four main types of diseases: infectious diseases, deficiency diseases, hereditary diseases, and physiological diseases. In terms of the transmission chance of any disease, it can either be communicable or noncommunicable. Communicable diseases are mostly infectious diseases, which introduced the epidemic phenomenon into the world a long time ago. A very rare disease that does not occur randomly in a population is usually categorized as an epidemic. The term epidemic originates from the two Greek words “epi,” meaning “upon,” and “demos,” meaning “population”. According to WHO, a regional outbreak of an illness that spreads unexpectedly is known as an epidemic ( Jha, 2020 ). The broad definition of epidemic disease delivered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is “the occurrence of large number cases of disease, injury, or other health condition than expected in a given community or region or among a specific group of persons during a particular period.”

There are three major components of an epidemiologic triad: external agent, susceptible host, and environment. The agent means an infectious pathogen such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, or other microbes that can attack the host in a favorable and balanced environment. All these three components work together to cause disease and other health events. The assessment of the interactions among these three components is required for developing effective interventions to control an epidemic ( CDC, 2006 ).

There are four phases of an epidemic: the emergence of a disease in a community, outbreak of the disease with localized transmission, sustained outbreak of the disease in the community, and reduced transmission by controlling the disease or acquiring immunity. The epidemic concept is different from the other related infectious disease terms like “endemic”, “outbreak,” and “pandemic” in terms of the spreading of the disease. Knowing the difference among these terms is important for understanding the baseline rate of incidence and public health updates and thus implementing appropriate health responses ( CDC, 2006 ). An endemic disease belongs to a particular geographic area. For example, malaria was an endemic disease in parts of Africa. An outbreak deals with an increase in the number of endemic cases and becomes an epidemic if not controlled quickly. The terms “epidemic” and “outbreak” are sometimes used interchangeably. While a disease-causing agent is different from current strains and much more infectious, the epidemic disease spreads over multiple countries by affecting a substantial number of people, and thus a situation, named a pandemic, arises ( CDC, 2006 ). In general, pandemics affect far more people than an epidemic in wider geographical areas in the entire world and cause impaired health and many more deaths than epidemics, which often creates enormous social disruption, economic loss, and hardship ( CDC, 2006 ).

1.2. List of epidemics

Until the 21 st century the world has faced several global pandemic and epidemic diseases including COVID-19, ( Fig. 1–1 and Table 1–1 ) ranging from asymptomatic to lethal and caused by different viruses and bacteria ( Wikipedia, 2020c ). All these pandemics posed a major challenge across the world and ultimately led to the death of thousands of people and the destruction of civilization as well as the economy.

Burden of epidemics: illustrations: epidemic events* globally, 2011–17**: a total of 1307 epidemic events in 172 countries.

Table 1–1

List of epidemics that occurred worldwide until the 21st century.

1.3. Origin of epidemics hitting the globe

Usually, most of the epidemics may have a common origin ( CDC, 2006 ). Despite the fact that the etiology of the multitude of shimmered pandemics is at first dark, the origin of the continuously evolving epidemics hitting the globe seems to be natural and comprises a diverse species of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.

Since the ancient age of human ecology, any novel microbe or pathogen, either newly emerging or reemerging, has been considered an independent variable to which the immunologically susceptible population lacks significant degrees of procured invulnerability to avert the disease ( Morse, 2009 ). Until the 21st century, 70% of more than 1500 emerging human pathogens have been proven to be “zoonotic” or of animal origin, which indicates that the next pandemic would be a zoonosis. The major sources of zoonotic transmission are farmed animals (such as poultry), livestock production systems, wildlife reservoirs, unsafe storage of farmed animals in commercial places, consumption of wild species, and contact with wildlife such as wild animal trade ( Morse et al., 2012 ). Besides, certain animal disease vectors are responsible for animal-to-human transmission. Other nonanimal disease vectors contributing to the diffusion of epidemics in a region are contaminated drinking water, food, air, and surfaces, and human touch ( WHO, 2018 ).

Pandemic risk mainly depends on the survival and adaptation behavior of zoonotic pathogens. The adaptation behavior of pathogens can be spanned into five stages ( Table 1–2 ), ranging from animal reservoir transmission (stage 1) to human-to-human transmission (stage 5). In the case of stages 2–3, the geographical spread of pathogens is restricted by the territorial scope of an animal reservoir, and thus pathogens cannot adapt well to humans, causing only localized outbreaks. These stages subsequently increase the adaptability of pathogens within a human population. Over stage 3, the pathogens adapt well to humans, increasing the risk of pandemic ( Madhav et al., 2017 ).

Table 1–2

Pathogen adaptation and pandemic risk.

For example, the origin of human plague may be the wild rodent fleas found in rural areas such as Southwestern United States ( Gage et al., 1995 ); infected animals such as guinea pigs in Peru and Ecuador ( Gabastou et al., 2000 ); infected camels in Central Asia and the Middle East ( Fedorov, 1960 ); or the handling of infected cats and the consumption of plague-infected rodents in Africa ( Isaäcson et al., 1973 ) or the United States ( Gage et al., 2000 ).

Fig. 1–2 represents the possible transmission pathways for the plague foci through rodent hosts and their associated fleas. When a commensal rodent consumes an infected flea, the cycle continues ( Fig. 1–2B ) until the commensal rodents die, and then their fleas move to alternative hosts, for example, humans. Finally, human-to-human transmission may occur depending on the favorable conditions if humans are infected by pneumonic plague through the transmission of respiratory droplets as well as the handling of infected animals such as rodents, cats, camels, mammal predators, and birds ( Fig. 1–2C ). The most likely sources of the Ebola virus are bats transmitting the virus to other animals, that is monkeys, apes, duikers, and humans ( WHO, 2016a ). A major reservoir host of the MERS-CoV infection is dromedary camels transmitted by bats. Since 1986, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has emerged from different primate species and generated new pathogens through cross-species infections with lentiviruses named simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). The species of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2), and SIVs may have originated from the zoonotic transfers of viruses, ( Fig. 1–3 ) which infected mostly different primates such as African green monkeys, sooty mangabeys, mandrills, and chimpanzees found in sub-Saharan Africa ( Sharp and Hahn, 2011 ).

Possible transmission pathways for the plague agent Yersinia pestis .

Origins of human AIDS viruses.

The main causes behind triggering an epidemic are the recent introduction of a new strain of an infectious agent to a host population that is unknown to the hosts’ immune systems, sudden reduction of the host immunity to the agent below the endemic equilibrium, and the increment of virulence of the agent due to its exceeding threshold that leads to an enhanced mode of transmission. A number of strains of multidrug-resistant microorganisms can evolve due to the inappropriate use of antibiotics for treating viral infections. There are also some seasonal epidemics such as whooping cough, influenza, and measles ( Marcovitch, 2005 ).

The number of cases and usual frequency of disease during an epidemic can vary according to the time and place of occurrence and the size and type of population exposed to the disease in an area ( Cliff et al., 1998 ). The possible diverse epidemic drivers speeding up the pathogenic proliferation on a global scale are trade-induced pathogenic diffusion such as increased speed of trade and migration, advances in transportation technologies, qualitative changes in globalization processes, knowledge and fear diffusion via telecommunications media, burgeoning human population, increased speed of travel, and accelerated genetic mixing ( Morse, 2009 ).

1.4. Comparison of the magnitude of all epidemics

1.4.1. the plague epidemic.

One of the most ancient scourges in human history is the plague, which is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis ( Stenseth et al., 2008 , Gage and Kosoy, 2005 ). Different Y. pestis strains that have different phenotypic properties are of four types of biovars or geographic origins, namely Antiqua, Mediaevalis, Orientalis, and Microtus ( Zhou et al., 2004 ). Different biovars of Y. pestis caused three major world pandemics having different paths of spread, which resulted in devastating mortality among people. The first pandemic, occurring in the 6th century CE (i.e., 541), was called the Justinian Plague, which evolved in central Africa following spreading around the Mediterranean Sea. The second pandemic, occurring in the 14th century (i.e., 1347), was known as the Black Death, which started in Asia following spreading to Europe, and mainly affected the social, economic, cultural, religious, and political progression of the continents ( Twigg, 1984 ). The third pandemic, occurring in the middle of the 19th century (i.e., 1894), known as the pneumonic plague, evolved in Yunnan, China following spreading to Hong Kong and India, and then finally throughout the world as well ( Stenseth et al., 2008 ). Most of the plague epidemics were bubonic plague caused by the infection of lymph nodes. The other plague epidemics were of septicemic or pneumonic type ( Gage and Kosoy, 2005 ).

All the recorded plague pandemics greatly affected the social and economic statuses of various nations and continents. Fig. 1–4 represents the global epidemiology of plagues all over the world since 1954, where the increased number of cases reported in recent years indicates the plague as a reemerging as well as an endemic disease ( Schrag and Wiener, 1995 ) that presently exists in some parts of South and North America, Africa, and Central Asia ( Fig. 1–4A ). Ultimately, the bubonic and pneumonic plague disease has shifted from Asia to Africa since the 19th century, where most cases and deaths occur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda ( Fig. 1–4B ). Between 1900 and 2015, the number of infected plague cases in the United States was 1036 with an average of 9 cases/year. Furthermore, the number of plague cases in the United States including rural California, northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada in 2015 was 16 ( CDC, 2019b ).

Plague distribution worldwide: (A) Map showing countries with known presence of plague in wild reservoir species (red), (B) Annual number of human plague cases over different continents, reported to the WHO in the period of 1954–2005, (C) Cumulative number of countries that have reported plague to the WHO since 1954.

The total number of plague cases and deaths in the world was 3248 and 584, respectively, within the period of 2010–15, while the most affected countries were the DRC, Madagascar, and Peru ( Stenseth et al., 2008 ). The DRC was the most affected country for over a decade since 2001. In the DRC, the large pneumonic plague outbreak occurred in October and November, 2006 ( WHO, 2006 ). The host of regular plague epidemics has been Madagascar since 2012. In Madagascar, the major pneumonic and bubonic plague disease outbreak occurred in 2017, which led to more than 2417 infected plague cases and 209 deaths. As a result, the plague preparedness alert was imposed in nine countries and territories connected to Madagascar for trade and travel. As of July 2020, a bubonic plague case was reported in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia of China and Mongolia due to which a plague-prevention system has been activated throughout the year ( Stenseth et al., 2008 ).

1.4.2. Influenza pandemic (H1N1 virus)

In the last 140 years, there have been five severe epidemics of influenza A virus that have emerged as different variants such as the bird flu, dog flu, H1N1 flu, H3N2 flu, horse flu, human flu, and swine flu ( Fig. 1–5 ) ( CDC, 2019a ). Among these, the most deadly flu pandemic (category 5 influenza) was the 1918 flu (Spanish flu) caused by the H1N1-type influenza A virus that spread to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands ( Potter, 2001 ). The death toll of the 1918 influenza pandemic was more than 50 million worldwide, similar to that of the Black Death, due to the extremely high infection rate caused by cytokine storms and lung infection ( Patterson Kd Fau et al., 1991 ). As a result, the 1918 pandemic caused mental harm to numerous individuals, social disruption, and a sense of fear in the affected regions ( NationalAcademiesPress, 2005 ).

Types of influenza viruses evolved in humans causing recurring influenza pandemics since 1889.

The next influenza pandemic was the category 2 flu pandemic named the Asian flu, which emerged in Guizhou, China in 1956 and then spread to Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States in 1957 ( Mittal and Medhi, 2007 ). The death toll of the Asian flu worldwide was in the range of 1 million to 4 million. In the period between 1968 and 1969, a strain of the H3N2 influenza virus caused the category 2 Hong Kong flu pandemic, killing 1 million people worldwide ( AssociatedPress, 2009 ).

The latest pandemic of the 21st century of the influenza A virus named swine flu was caused by a strain of H1N1 in 2009 ( CDC, 2019a ). According to the WHO, the number of infected cases and deaths during the influenza H1N1 pandemic were 482,300 and 18,000, respectively, in 199 countries. During the 2009 influenza pandemic, the main comorbidities were acute myocardial infarction and stroke, which significantly increased the number of deaths.

1.4.3. AIDS

One of the most annihilating diseases that has evolved in recent history is AIDS, an infection caused by a member of retroviruses called the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ( Sepkowitz, 2001 ). According to the CDC, AIDS is defined as a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease. The symptoms of AIDS are degrading immune function and unintended weight loss along with developing opportunistic infections. The major routes of transmission of the virus are contaminated blood transfusions, contaminated and used needles, unprotected sex, and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers ( Cohen et al., 2011 ).

In 1981, the first five AIDS cases were reported in homosexual men due to a rare fungal infection caused by Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, which was recognized by the CDC ( Sharp and Hahn, 2011 , Gallo, 2006 ). Since the first identification of AIDS cases in 1981, the number of HIV infections and the number of deaths has tremendiously increased worldwide ( Merson et al., 2008 ). Higher HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality were observed in developing countries, while the highest prevalence rates were observed in sub-Saharan Africa ( UNAIDS, 2020 ). As of 2019, the number of infected HIV cases was 38 million with 690,000 deaths, among which 20.6 million were from eastern and southern Africa. Thus HIV/AIDS is still actively spreading and is considered a pandemic ( Kallings, 2008 ). The disease outbreak has caused large economic impacts, many controversies involving religion, and discrimination in society ( UNAIDS, 2006 ).

1.4.4. Coronavirus epidemics

1.4.4.1. severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

The first coronavirus causing disease was severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which is a relatively rare viral respiratory infection ( CDC, 2017 ). The sign of SARS infection is similar to that of atypical pneumonia, and its symptoms are mainly breathing difficulties along with dry cough, fever, and headache. The SARS virus is readily transmissible and thus can spread directly through air like the influenza virus and indirectly via surfaces touched by infected persons.

The SARS outbreak first emerged in Guangdong province, southeastern China on 16 November, 2002, and then spread to 29 countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia within about 8 months, from November 2002 to July 2003 ( Routledge, 2003 ). According to the WHO, the total number of SARS infections was reported to be 8098, including 29 cases from the United States, while the total number of deaths was 774 ( Fig. 1–6 ) ( Routledge, 2003 ). The case fatality rate (CFR) of the SARS epidemic was 11% ( Chan-Yeung and Xu, 2003 ) and it depends on the patient’s age and gender ( Routledge, 2003 ). Patients that were 65 years old and male were most likely to die ( NationalAcademiesPress, 2004 ). The SARS outbreak mainly caused hospital-based as well as healthcare worker infections. Furthermore, the outbreak raised fear and economic instability across the world.

2003 Probable cases of SARS worldwide.

After the 2002–03 SARS outbreak, a few SARS infections were reported until May 2004 ( WHO, 2004 ). Since May 2004, there have not been any known cases of SARS reported worldwide. In December 2019, the SARS-related virus strain called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected, which caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic ( Morens and Fauci, 2020 ).

1.4.4.2. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

Another coronavirus that appeared in Saudi Arabia in the Middle East region in 2012 was responsible for causing an epidemic called Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) ( Parry, 2015 ). MERS is also a viral respiratory disease like SARS. The MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV) originated from bats and then was transmitted to humans via infected camels ( Zumla et al., 2015 ).

The first MERS case was identified in June 2012 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia was the most affected place in the Arabian Peninsula.” ( Zumla et al., 2015 ). In the period of 2012–13, the largest MERS epidemic spread fatally into Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the Republic of Korea, while Saudi Arabia (approximately 80% of human cases) was the most affected country ( Fig. 1–7 ) ( Zumla et al., 2015 ). Since 2012, the countries that have reported MERS cases have been Algeria, Austria, Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Yemen. Larger MERS outbreaks have been seen in South Korea and Saudi Arabia in 2015 and 2018, respectively ( WHO, 2017 ).

Confirmed cases of MERS-CoV worldwide in the period of 2012–15.

According to the WHO, the number of MERS cases as of January 2020 was about 2500, while the death rate was 35% of the reported cases ( Carmona et al., 2012 ). The spread of MERS-CoV mainly occurred in healthcare facilities among family members, patients, and healthcare workers before MERS-CoV was diagnosed and where infection prevention practices were inadequate. The patients with chronic lung disease, diabetes, immunodeficiency, and renal failure were at high risk of MERS severity. The impact of the MERS epidemic has been observed in the Republic of Korea in different aspects of life, such as travel, trade, and economies.( Al-Osail and Al-Wazzah, 2017 )

1.4.4.3. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2

The most recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (currently known as COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a potential threat to human health ( Acter et al., 2020 ). The origin of the disease was Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, located in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and then it subsequently spread to Thailand, Japan, and then other regions in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Oceania, developing into the global 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic by March. WHO declared this massive global outbreak as the sixth Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020 as the disease spread worldwide.

According to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University, as of January 04, 2021, there are 85,603,740 confirmed cases, 23,188,005 active cases, 60,562,667 recoveries, and 1,853,068 deaths in about 191 countries/territories and 26 cruise/naval ships. The current scenario of the ten most affected countries in the world is presented in Table 1–3 . As the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections is higher than the total number of suspected SARS cases, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is assumed to be more contagious than other coronaviruses, that is, SARS, MERS, and influenza. The natural reservoir of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is assumed to be bats. The human-to-human transmission of the virus mainly occurs via respiratory droplets produced from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person. The pandemic has caused global health impacts; social, economic, educational, and agricultural disruption; panic buying; widespread supply and food shortages; and postponement or cancellation of events ( Cave and May, 2020 , Horowitz, 2020 , Larson, 2020 , Litvinova et al., 2019 , Maxmen, 2020 ).

Table 1–3

COVID-19 pandemic by location for ten most affected countries.

1.4.4.4. The ebola epidemic

One of the most severe, deadliest, and most fatal viral diseases is Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever caused by a group of ebolaviruses such as Ebola virus (species Zaire ebolavirus ), Sudan virus (species Sudan ebolavirus ), Taï Forest virus (species Taï Forest ebolavirus ), Bundibugyo virus (species Bundibugyo ebolavirus ), Reston virus (species Reston ebolavirus ), and Bombali virus (species Bombali ebolavirus ) in human and nonhuman primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees), among which the human disease-causing ebolaviruses are Ebola, Sudan, Taï Forest, and Bundibugyo viruses ( WHO, 2016a ).

The most likely sources of the ebolavirus are infected wild animals such as fruit bats; porcupines; and nonhuman primates such as chimpanzees, apes, and monkeys. The spreading of the virus may take place through direct contact with the infected blood, body fluids, or secretions of infected people; mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, or mouth; tissues of infected animals; and contaminated objects or surfaces ( WHO, 2016a ). Besides, the virus may exist in the semen or breast milk of an EVD-recovered person ( WHO, 2015a ). The incubation period of the disease is from 2 days to 3 weeks, while its major signs and symptoms are fever, sore throat, muscular pain, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased liver and kidney functions, sometimes internal and external bleeding, and low blood pressure from fluid loss ( WHO, 2016a , Singh and Ruzek, 2013 ). The Ebola epidemic overwhelmed the healthcare systems and caused a lack of routine diagnosis and treatment for endemic diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. As a result, the nonebola diseases contributed to an estimated 10,600 additional deaths during the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone of West Africa ( Parpia et al., 2016 ). Besides, understaffing and fear of contracting the disease caused the closure of facilities that led to decreasing routine childhood immunization rates and routine healthcare in affected countries.

The Ebola virus first emerged with two simultaneous outbreaks in two tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa named Sudan (in a village near Ebola river) and the DRC (formerly Zaire) in 1976, while the number of infections was 284 (with a mortality rate of 53%) and 318 (with a mortality rate of 88%) in the first and second outbreaks, respectively ( WHO, 2016a ). In the last 40 years, the Ebola virus has been mostly affecting several African countries with occasional outbreaks as well as a sparking alarm worldwide due to more than 25 deadly outbreaks ( Table 1–4 ). The most severe EVD epidemic since 1976 that caused a large number of deaths occurred in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) from December 2013 to January 2016, with 28,646 cases and 11,323 deaths ( WHO, 2016a ). According to the WHO, the numbers of confirmed Ebola cases and deaths due to this disease were 2387 and 1590, respectively, from 1976 through 2020. The emergency alert for EVD was withdrawn on 29 March 2016. Recently, EVD has been reemerged in the DRC, Africa from May 2017 ( K, 2017 ). The average CFR of EVD is about 50%, which indicates that the disease has a high risk of death ( WHO, 2016a ).

Table 1–4

Chronology of previous ebola virus disease outbreaks.

1.5. Assessing countries’ readiness for coping with epidemics

In order to cope with an epidemic, five crucial stages are required to be followed: prediction of the novel pathogen; faster pathogen detection in animal reservoirs and human populations; disease containment at the beginning phases of transmission; control of the epidemic during its amplification; and elimination of the outbreak risk ( CDC, 2006 ). Effective readiness of a country during an epidemic involves a disease surveillance system; early mitigation efforts; actual response measures such as case and contact tracing; identifying infected cases; and preventive measures in healthcare facilities and public health measures, such as clean water and handwashing etiquette ( Gates, 2015 ).

In order to flatten the epidemic curve, nonpharmacological interventions such as using personal protective equipment (PPE; i.e., masks, gloves, etc.) and social distancing have been exercised in the affected countries ( Stawicki et al., 2020 ). Vaccine production, as well as the purchasing capability, is variable from country to country. For example, according to the WHO, 19 countries manufactured the influenza vaccine, while only the United States and France were the suppliers of the H1N1 vaccine in 2009 ( CDC, 2019c ).

Until now, different effective ways have been followed in the countries for coping with the epidemics, resulting in various impacts in the affected regions. The indices for measuring and identifying countries’ preparedness and responses against the threats of epidemics worldwide are the Global Health Security (GHS) Index and the COVID-19 Safety, Risk and Treatment Efficiency framework and indices. There is a relationship between global health security and its ability to cope with pandemics. In this context, the GHS Index is an assessment index projected by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (CHS) and developed with the Economist Intelligence Unit that benchmarks the capabilities of the health security of any nation affected by infectious disease outbreaks and thus encourages to upgrade the health facilities of the respective country. The GHS index usually is calculated based on 140 questions organized into six categories, namely the prevention of emerging diseases, the detection and reporting of confirmed cases and deaths, rapid response to the epidemic, the health system, the compliance with global norms, and the risk environment.

The 2019 GHS Index reported the rankings of 195 countries and territories, which finds that the average score is 40.2 out of 100, indicating the fundamental weakness of global healthcare systems and preparedness to face epidemics ( LePan, 2020 ). The pre-COVID-19 GHS report highlights the global health security problems of the current world due to the following reasons:

• • Worldwide weak national health security required for facing epidemic response
• • Few efforts taken by countries for testing the capacities of health securities
• • Inadequate funding for filling up the preparedness gaps of the countries
• • Inadequate coordination and training among health professionals.

As shown in Fig. 1–8 , 81% of the countries had a low score pertaining to the health security system in 2019, while 85% of countries did not exercise biological threat-focused simulation efforts along with the WHO. According to GHS, the score of the United States (98.2) was higher than that of Germany (84.6) and South Korea (92.1) in the case of detection, reporting, and infection control practices and availability of equipment, while the private sector of South Korea had sufficient protective equipment such as masks and developed and implemented test kits faster. Along with sufficient protective equipment, Germany had greater healthcare facilities such as hospital beds, intensive care beds, and ventilators ( Lafortune, 2020 ). One of the limitations of GHS methodology in testing and the adaptability of health systems is that the index may over or underestimate the preparedness level of certain countries. One of the effective measures to flatten the epidemic curve is imposing lockdowns of nonessential economic activities, especially implemented by most Asian countries, including South Korea, and some European countries, including France and Germany. However, these shutdown approaches are responsible for the economic impacts of the affected regions.

Global Health Security Index of countries with population of more than 5 million. ( GHSI, 2019 ).

Table 1–5 shows the ranking of the GSH index of the top ten countries that have adequate healthcare systems, which are best prepared to deal with a pandemic although there are still some gaps in their preparedness. Overall, the top 2019 GHS-ranked countries globally are the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. In addition, Fig. 1–9 shows that numerous medical service frameworks have had their security tested with the episode of COVID-19 ( Lafortune, 2020 ). The highest number of deaths per capita was reported in countries like Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, United States, and United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The countries near the origin of the COVID-19 outbreak, such as South Korea, have started to release the lockdown measures due to effective management of the disease outbreak.

Table 1–5

The top 10 highest-ranking countries in the Global Health Security index ( GHSI, 2019 ).

Confirmed COVID-19 cases versus Global Health Security score. ( GHSI, 2019 ).

The COVID-19 Safety, Risk and Treatment Efficiency framework and indices have been released by the Deep Knowledge Group (a consortium of profit and nonprofit organizations) in March 2020, which cover 150 countries. This “Safety” index was calculated based on 72 metrics grouped into 3 indices, namely Safety, Risk and Treatment Efficiency, and 12 underlying quadrants. The data was collected from the WHO, Johns Hopkins University, Worldometer, and the CDC. Overall, the top COVID-19 Safety Indexed countries of 2020 are Israel, Germany, and South Korea.

Countries like Australia and South Korea performed well on both the November 2019 GHS Index and COVID-19 Safety Index. The top-ranked GHS Indexed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States and Other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries such as France, Spain, and Sweden were not in the list of the top 40 COVID-19 Safety Indexed countries. On the other hand, better ranked COVID-19 Safety countries were observed to be Austria, China, Hungary, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates according to their GHS ranks. Besides, Germany ranked 2 nd and 14 th on the COVID-19 Safety Index and GHS Index, respectively. Asian countries performed well in the effective management of the COVID-19 crisis, such as massive testing, intense reconnaissance frameworks, and quick detachment of tainted patients and the subsequent leveling of the epidemic curve ( Lafortune, 2020 ).

1.6. Challenges in battling with epidemics

Epidemics of any disease put the resources of the health systems of the affected countries under pressure due to the admission of a large number of patients to hospitals. The most recent COVID-19 pandemic shows that the health and nonhealth impacts of a pandemic could be devastating even with good public health surveillance systems ( Acter et al., 2020 ). All attention given to the emergency of medical supplies and supports may often be responsible for neglecting other regular health facilities. As a result, people with other diseases may not get healthcare services on time during an epidemic, and thus mortality rates get higher. The situation is worsening in poorer communities around the world and low-income countries, and countries facing severe epidemics faced mainly this type of difficulty. For example, the Ebola virus in West Africa spread rapidly in more than 2 months before diagnosis and thus caused the Ebola epidemics. Besides, the epidemic caused by any novel virus may generate fear among certain at-risk populations, which leads to the generation of inadequate decisions or inappropriate behaviors.

The rapidly evolving nature of known epidemic diseases, such as cholera, HIV infection, influenza, meningitis, malaria, and tuberculosis still remains a threat for the globe. It is sometimes difficult to effectively access public health measures even in cases of known epidemics. The major limitations of access to vaccines are inadequate production capacity for diseases, for example yellow fever and influenza; vaccines out of stock during explosive outbreaks (e.g., meningitis); and the absence of markets during emergencies (e.g., oral cholera vaccine). Unprepared health systems could be challenged during epidemics of infectious diseases. In the case of inadequately undertaken preventive measures such as triage and isolation, the hospitals could be a source of transmission for unknown and emerging pathogens (for instance, MERS) from infected patients. Healthcare workers are usually at high risk of infection, which results in shortages of them during emergencies of epidemics and thus further weakens the health workforce. Therefore training new healthcare workers is time consuming. The traditional containment measures like home quarantine are sometimes unacceptable, which should be reevaluated in the perception of people’s freedom of movement. The term “infodemics” is a new health risk among the population in the era of epidemics, which includes the rapid spreading of unauthentic, misleading, and unreliable information through social media nationally and internationally.

1.7. Concerns about future pandemics

The 21st century has been vigorously attacked by so many major epidemics ( Gates, 2015 ). People will always remember the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014. The coronaviruses, that is, MERS, are still active, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. Viral hemorrhagic fevers, that is, Ebola and Marburg viruses, causing disease could become pandemics. The history of pandemics occurring every decade tells us that the recurrences between pandemics become more limited as seen with SARS in 2003, influenza A H1N5 (bird flu) in 2007, H1N1 (swine flu) in 2009, MERS in 2012, and Ebola in 2014 ( Morse and Schluederberg, 1990 , Jones et al., 2008 ).

Multidrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are a major concern. Without dynamic reconnaissance and regulation measures, the possibility of avian influenza (H5N1) infection joining with human seasonal infections is a concern to researchers. The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant strains of the plague virus would pose a major concern to human health ( Inglesby et al. ). As plague can originate in wildlife rodent reservoirs, it could not be eradicated. Africa is particularly at risk due to possibly favorable contact between plague reservoirs and peridomestic rodents in poor rural communities ( Stenseth et al., 2008 ). The plague is known to be affected by various environmental conditions such as hotter springs and wetter summers that may turn out to be more normal in the future ( Parmenter et al. , Enscore et al. ). Furthermore, plague bacillus may adapt to new ecological niches due to its genomic rearrangement capacity and antibiotic resistivity ( Parkhill et al. , Galimand et al., 1997 ).

As the current world remains vulnerable to epidemic events, the possibility of the next global pandemic could not be ignored. Although the advancement of medical science has been progressing rapidly in recent years, the natural immunity of humans to a newly mutated disease would not develop, and thus there are still concerns about global, sustained, and threatening public health emergencies in the future ( Ross et al., 2015 ). As diseases very rarely disappear, there is always space for new ones. There are some reasons behind emerging and reemerging new pathogens and the increasing transmissibility and severity of infectious diseases. The major potential factors that serve as the breeding grounds for concerns of the future transmission of respiratory and fecal-oral pathogens are overpopulation ( Alirol et al. ); weak populations along with malnourishment in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs); quick and extreme mobility of individuals, with expanded vehicle offices; greater interconnectivity between megacities; poverty; globalization; relentless urbanization ( Alirol et al. ); swelling populations of city dwellers; global warming; environmental degradation; ecological changes; habitat destruction; close and rehashed interaction among individuals, animals, and livestock; domestic animals; drug resistance to entering pathogens and the existence of viral pathogens with high nucleotide substitution rate, poor mutation error-correction rate ability, and quick adaptation capacity to human hosts ( Jones et al., 2008 ). Given the abovementioned contributing factors, it is almost certain that the following arising infection will likewise spread quickly and far.

1.8. Preparative measures for tackling future pandemics

It is impossible to create a pandemic-free world. But meticulous preparation and rapid response can be helpful to prevent, detect, and respond effectively and rapidly to most episodes from gaining out of power at the very start of a disease outbreak that represents potential international threats. In order to make the world safer, the following pandemic preparation methods should be undertaken:

• • Addressing the root cause of health insecurity and strengthening health systems with a strong focus on surveillance systems.
• • Providing protected, compelling, and subjective wellbeing administrations prior to, during, and after scourges by long-term substantial investments.
• • Building and sustaining versatile limits at public, local, and worldwide levels.
• • Ensuring, improving, and implementing rapid accessibility of essential life-saving health services and interventions including medicines and vaccines and other countermeasures worldwide during crises.
• • Early recognition of a new microbe and the beginning of human-to-human transmission during emergence by detecting unusual clusters of severe cases.
• • Raising clinicians’ awareness by training them effectively as detectors and first-line responders.
• • Flexibility of preparedness to adapt to any novel agent.
• • Employing risk communication and sophisticated skills among health specialists, offices, doctors, and health experts to limit the social, political, and monetary effects of a scourge.
• • Permitting innovative work exercises in any event during pandemics to quickly track the accessibility of powerful tests, immunizations, and drugs.
• • Empowering and engaging anthropologist communities for better understanding human ecology as well as addressing fear and trust issues.
• • Empowering and engaging the health workforce community in creating and executing strong arrangements and techniques toward widespread health coverage.
• • Adequate clinical management and better supportive care for patients by involving skilled, qualified, and dedicated health personnel.
• • Recently, computational or artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been playing a significant role in coping with global epidemics and addressing public health surveillance ( Zeng et al., 2021 , Dananjayan and Raj, 2020 , Bansal et al., 2020 ). AI can help researchers in predicting the magnitude and impact of future epidemics. However, there are still some challenges regarding AI techniques, that is, unawareness, data sparsity, lack of skilled operating manpower, high cost, software malfunction, noninvincibility, algorithm bias, data breach, etc. ( Harkut and Kasat, 2019 ). In order to explore AI techniques widely in the areas of global epidemics, some developments in AI techniques such as research on collaborative systems, fine-tuning of networks of neural network algorithms, generation of innovative ways to explore human intelligence, deep learning, development of neural biological networks, advent of reinforcement learning, limitations in the cost of high computational capacity, and wide availability of labeled data should be performed ( Harkut and Kasat, 2019 ).

Furthermore, a number of hygiene measures are recommended in order to maintain health and prevent the spread of disease outbreaks in the future.

• • Medical hygiene: The standard infection control precautions, that is, frequent handwashing; use and disinfection of PPE including masks, gowns, caps, eyewear, and gloves; prevention of sharp injury; disinfection of surgical equipment and environment; airborne and contact precautions; droplet precautions; isolation of infected patients; and safe removal of clinical waste, etc. should be practiced in medical care settings ( WHO 2007 ).
• • Home hygiene: Home hygiene may include frequent handwashing with soap and water, using hand sanitizer, food hygiene, water hygiene, cleaning common surfaces, care of domestic animals, using tissues or covering mouth during coughing, and disposal of used tissues after coughing ( Bloomfield et al., 2009 ).
• • Social hygiene: Social hygiene may include social distancing in public transport, educational institutions, workplaces, and markets; installment of handwashing set-ups; and frequent use of disinfectants in public places.

1.9. Review questions

• 1. What is the common origin of the continuously evolving epidemics hitting the globe and how does the transmission of any infectious disease take place?
• 2. How does a pathogen adapt to the human population?
• 3. How many times did the influenza viruses reemerge as variants until the 21st century?
• 4. Which coronavirus is the deadliest virus in history and why?
• 5. How many stages are essential for coping with an epidemic?
• 6. What are the popular nonpharmaceutical interventions that should be followed during an epidemic?
• 7. What is the relationship between countries’ preparedness measuring index and its ability to cope with pandemics?
• 8. How can the Global Health Security (GHS) index be calculated for measuring the preparedness of a vulnerable country?
• 9. Write about the current health security problems worldwide.
• 10. Why are the health systems of any country the most affected part during any epidemic?
• 11. What are the major challenges faced during an epidemic?
• 12. Which factors contribute most to evolving novel pathogens in the human population?
• 13. How can an epidemic be responded to in a short time?
• 14. How can the challenges of computational or artificial intelligence (AI) techniques be overcome?
• 15. How can different hygiene practices be maintained?

1.10. Problem statements for young researchers

• 1. The countries with a good 2019 GHS Index score and COVID-19 Safety Index score performed effective management of epidemics. The top-ranked GHS Indexed countries are not always the top-ranked COVID-19 Index countries. What is the reason behind this dissimilarity?
• 2. The number of cases and the usual frequency of any disease during an epidemic can vary according to the time and place of occurrence and the size and type of population exposed to the disease in an area. How is this statement true in terms of epidemic events that have occurred in history?

1.11. Discussion questions

• 1. All the epidemic events show the devastating health and nonhealth impacts even with good public health surveillance systems. The poorer communities are the main victims of this scenario. Besides, healthcare workers are at high infection risk even in developed countries. How can the resources of the health system be enriched in order to cope with an epidemic and reduce the infection risk of healthcare providers?
• 2. There have been many major epidemics since the early age of human evolution. The recent epidemics include the West African 2014 Ebola outbreak, 2012 MERS, and COVID-19. The history of pandemics occurring is a reflection of concern for future epidemics. What kind of key issues can be raised regarding the growing concerns of the future transmission of human pathogens?
• 3. Any novel microbe or pathogen, either newly emerging or reemerging, is considered an independent variable that causes disease in the susceptible human population. While most of the emerging human pathogens are of animal origin, discuss the main causes behind the triggering of an epidemic.
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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Topics

35 Global Issues Research Paper Topics for Students

Read also: Research writing process: peculiarities and techniques.

35 Global Issues Topics for an A+ Grade

• The presidency of Trump and its impact on world politics
• Kidnapping and human trafficking: will it increase afterthe legalization of prostitution worldwide?
• The Doomsday Clock: its meaning and importance
• The global warming: what are its advantages and disadvantages?
• What the first piloted flight to Marswill change?
• Does violence at the border between USA and Mexico have global consequences?
• Holy wars: isthere any risk of them now?
• The raise of China: what are the possibilities for the country in the next ten years?
• Digital piracy as global phenomenon
• The global hunger: what can be done to eliminate it?
• The pollution problem: who or what contributes the most?
• Social media and their global influence
• Global flashmobs: what can they change?
• The phenomenon of petitions
• The overpopulation of the Earth: are there humane ways to prevent it?
• Shall we fight extinction of every endangered specie, or let the nature decide?
• Deforestation and its global impact
• The global impact of the third world countries
• The consequences of Brexit
• Space missions as a global uniting factor
• The secret societies: are they a real force?
• The Third World War: is the danger real?
• Mother Teresa and her influence on the world
• Gender problems worldwide
• Shall class segregation be eliminated completely?
• Ethnic conflicts: is there a global solution?
• Is the universal religion possible?
• The global poverty: what can be done?
• Recycling: what can we do on global scale?
• Are caste systems a global or a local problem?
• Does the power over the globe now belongs to corporations, not to the governments?
• Civil wars: are they internal affairs or the symptoms of global events?
• How do closed countries like People’s Republic of Korea influence the world?
• Humanitarian aid: how to help without harm?
• Is the world ready for global catastrophes?

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Gender Inequality as a Global Issue Essay

Culture, society, and law, technology and infrastructure, consequences.

Gender inequality is a global issue where men and women enjoy different levels of representation in various spheres of life. Generally predisposed against females, multiple factors conspire to limit their opportunities for education and employment, as well as, in more extreme cases, lead to violence. The causes of such inequality can stem from biology, culture, and technology. This essay will examine some of the causes that affect the gap in the treatment of men and women, and its ramifications, particularly regarding developing countries. One particular metric that will be used is female labor force participation (FLFP).

Humans are sexually dimorphic species; males and females exhibit different physical characteristics. While these differences have led to often oppressive cultural norms, they are impossible to reject. Large parts of developing nations are pre-industrial, where “individuals do not receive any education and primarily work in agricultural jobs as unskilled workers” (Hiller, 2014, p. 457). The labor efficiency in such jobs affects the roles available to men and women. For instance, some regions of India have soil that is more suitable for deep tillage and, therefore, the use of plows — heavy tools that require upper body strength to operate. As a consequence of this, “in parts of India with soil suitable for deep tillage, there is lower FLFP and a more male-skewed sex ratio” (Jayachandran, 2015, p. 72). In these regions, men had a physical advantage, which led to their higher representation in the labor force and positions of power.

For comparison, China’s agricultural areas provide a different example: regions that specialize in tea production. There, women have a “comparative advantage in picking tea leaves” (Jayachandran, 2015, p. 72). After economic reforms in those areas, various improvements have been noted regarding gender equality, as female children became more desirable and women more financially independent. These findings suggest that physiological differences, but also opportunities to make the best use of the advantages posed by these differences, play an important role in creating gender equality or inequality.

While physical differences may have caused an initial degree of gender inequality, cultural norms always form in response to them, strengthening this imbalance for the future, when physical differences are no longer relevant. Usually, this takes the form of a strong patriarchal tradition under which men take on a more proactive role in society. In contrast, women are relegated to more subservient and supportive positions. As a result of such traditions, women can face opposition when they seek education or employment or attempt to act outside of their society-mandated roles.

Girls’ education opportunities are not necessarily enforced explicitly by existing laws or regulations. The choice to educate a child is primarily made by their parents, according to social and cultural norms. Hiller (2014) explains that “if a ‘strong norm’ exists, according to which husbands should be the primary breadwinners of the family, parents grant a low value to the education of their daughters” (p. 457). Therefore, young women are often denied the schooling necessary to find better work.

Tradition and religion still play a significant part in women being underrepresented. While laws may be proposed that seek to create opportunities for women, they are turned down for such reasons. Nigeria is one such country, where “customary and religious arguments were the major justifications put forward by [local] legislators for their rejection of bills to promote women’s rights and gender equality” (Para-Mallam, 2017, p. 28). This legislative issue reinforces the existing inequality, keeping women in a disadvantaged position.

The points listed above concern pre-industrial societies, but as they develop, technology and improvements to infrastructure present new circumstances that can increase gender equality. As women tend to be engaged in various domestic chores in such cultures, making said chores easier and more efficient frees up their time. For instance, work such as fetching firewood and water is generally performed by women — therefore, providing plumbing and electric heating “will disproportionately free up women to work outside the home more or enjoy more leisure” (Jayachandran, 2015, p. 74). This change, in turn, would allow them more opportunities for education or work.

Advances in medicine are another change that improves women’s opportunities, mainly when it concerns obstetrics. Jayachandran (2015) notes that “childbearing is not only more common in developing countries; it is also more dangerous” (p. 74). It has been observed that improvements in this area in several countries reduced maternal mortality and complications at childbirth that might have had long-term effects. This change led to an increase in women’s ability to return to work after giving birth (Jayachandran, 2015). Similarly, access to contraception has been observed to free up women’s time available for education and work, consequently allowing them to gain more equal positions with men and creating a quantitative increase in FLFP.

Improvements in infrastructure can serve to increase gender equality in rural areas. Parents in these regions tend to be protective of their daughters. However, Jayachandran (2015) notes that “it is difficult to say how much of the limited mobility is out of genuine concern for women’s welfare … and how much is simply a way to stifle female autonomy” (pp. 77-78). This protectiveness makes parents less likely to choose to educate their daughters, especially if a school is not available nearby. Studies have observed that “a village school essentially closes the otherwise-large gender gap in enrollment” (Jayachandran, 2015, p. 78). Therefore, a single school can serve to educate boys from a significantly larger area than girls.

A significant difference in the treatment of men and women has significant consequences, most of which are negative. Since the causes persist in families, discrimination starts there, as parents consider investing in sons seems to be the better option than daughters. In day-to-day life, Para-Mallam (2017) found that Nigerian “rural men spend approximately two hours less than women doing work … and have one hour per day more for rest and recreation” (p. 28). In the distribution of a community’s shared resources, Agarwal (2018) points out that often, “female-headed households with few family members to help them are the most disadvantaged” (p. 282). Finally, common property in countries with a high level of gender inequality is “a high level of violence against women and girls perpetuated by individuals, groups and the state” (Para-Mallam, 2018, p. 29). All of these effects not only harm women’s lives and limit their opportunities, but also perpetuate the inequality already present, making it more difficult to create more equal conditions.

Gender inequality is still an issue even in First World nations. Current research in developing countries allows examining its causes and ways to reduce the gap in treatment. While simple biological reasons can initially explain inequality, culture and religion can perpetuate it into modernity. However, it has been noted that advances in technology, medicine, and infrastructure act as a countermeasure, gradually shortening this gap. Effects of gender inequality can range more work and less leisure time for the disadvantaged gender to limited education and employment opportunities, to violence.

Agarwal, B. (2018). Gender inequality, cooperation, and environmental sustainability. In J-M. Baland, P. Bradhan, & S. Bowles (eds.), inequality, cooperation, and environmental sustainability (pp. 274-313). New York, NY: Princeton University Press.

Hiller, V. (2014). Gender inequality, endogenous cultural norms, and economic development. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 116 (2), 451-481.

Jayachandran, S. (2015). The roots of gender inequality in developing countries. Annual Review of Economics, 7 (1), 63-88.

Para-Mallam, F. J. (2018). Gender equality in Nigeria. In A. Örtenblad, R. Marling, & S. Vasilijević (eds.), Gender Equality in a Global Perspective (pp. 23-53). New York, NY: Routledge.

• The Five Sexes & Biology and Ideology
• Evolutionary Biology: Sleep Patterns in Mammals
• Biology of Memory: Origins and Structures
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• Procrastination Essay
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IvyPanda. (2019, December 3). Gender Inequality as a Global Issue. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-inequality-as-a-global-issue/

"Gender Inequality as a Global Issue." IvyPanda , 3 Dec. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/gender-inequality-as-a-global-issue/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Gender Inequality as a Global Issue'. 3 December.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Gender Inequality as a Global Issue." December 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-inequality-as-a-global-issue/.

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The global clean water crisis looms large: Study finds water quality is underrepresented in assessments

by Utrecht University

Water scarcity will intensify with climate and socioeconomic change, disproportionately impacting populations located in the Global South, concludes a new Utrecht University article published in Nature Climate Change .

Humans require clean water for drinking and sanitation purposes, but also for the production of food, energy and manufactured goods. As communities and policymakers grapple with water scarcity issues on the ground, researchers at Utrecht University aim to shed light on the escalating global clean water crisis.

Current and future water scarcity

Using simulations from a state-of-the-art water quantity and quality model, the authors assess present-day and future global water scarcity.

"Climate change and socioeconomic developments have multi-faceted impacts on the availability and quality of, and demands for, water resources in the future," says lead author Dr. Edward Jones. "Changes in these three aspects are crucial for evaluating future water scarcity."

The study estimates that 55% of the global population currently lives in areas that experience a lack of clean water in at least one month per year. "By the end of the century, this may be as high as 66%," remarks Jones.

Strong regional differences in future water scarcity

While global water scarcity is projected to intensify in the future, both the changes and impacts will not occur equally across all world regions. Future increases in water scarcity in Western Europe and North America, for example, are concentrated in just a few months of the year—predominantly driven by water quantity aspects. Conversely, water scarcity increases in developing countries are typically more widespread in space and persist for a larger portion of the year.

Jones remarks, "Increases in future exposure are largest in the Global South. These are typically driven by a combination of rapid population and economic growth, climate change and deteriorating water quality."

Quality: The invisible part of water scarcity

Water quality—despite being crucial for safe water use—remains an underrepresented component of water scarcity assessments. "Previous assessments still predominantly focus on water quantity aspects only," explains Jones. "Yet, the safe use of water also depends on the quality."

Therefore, a key aim of this study was also to normalize the inclusion of water quality in water scarcity assessments—and in the design of management strategies for alleviating water scarcity .

Jones concludes, "The lack of clean water presents a systemic risk to both humans and ecosystems, which is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Our work highlights that alongside substantially reducing our water demands, we must place an equally strong focus on eliminating water pollution in order to turn the tide on the global water crisis."

Journal information: Nature Climate Change

Provided by Utrecht University

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Opinion: The issue of human rights is on life support. Here’s how to save it

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I once heard Jimmy Carter say that in a war there are no human rights. With the fighting in Ukraine and in Gaza front and center, that observation seems more profound than ever. Human rights as an issue may be on life support.

There are so few great examples of progress to look to. Maybe just one — Northern Ireland, finally.

In addition to major war zones, human rights are being trampled in so many places that it requires an effort to keep up with the havoc. Old alliances are cracking if not broken. Displaced people clamor for shelter and safety. The number of deaths is enormous, the disruption epic.

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The Council on Foreign Relations maintains a conflict tracker — its orange markers dot the globe. Wikipedia maps an even broader set of armed conflicts . Hostile actions are killing folks in Sudan and western New Guinea, Haiti is near collapse, criminal violence pervades Mexico, thousands die in Syria year by year.

Some of the violence is especially barbaric, as at the music festival in Israel on Oct. 7. Hostages are held for long periods of time in Russia, China, Egypt and now Gaza. Nearly a million Palestinians are fleeing any which way, seeking safety from the promised invasion of Rafah.

The consequences are obvious but hard to fathom. The old and the very young die first. Famine follows war; disease follows famine, and young adults and the middle-aged die too. Women are especially vulnerable to sexual violence, with effects that can last for a lifetime. Scores are left homeless.

Decency and sanity demand that we address these catastrophes, however massive and intransigent.

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We can start by reminding ourselves about the goal. Reread the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , adopted by the United Nations in 1948, written under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt. It remains a clear call for how the world should treat its people. Or look to Pope Francis’ “ Dignitas Infinita ,” the Catholic Church’s call to, “without fanfare, in concrete daily life, fight and personally pay the price for defending the rights of those who do not count.”

But how? Support those who run toward conflict and danger, who document events, who demand accountability: volunteers and U.N. workers, journalists on the ground and peace negotiators. Groups such as Doctors without Borders, the World Kitchen, the Red Cross/Red Crescent and Amnesty International, where I once worked. (Do your homework; not every group has staying power.)

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Find a part of the world you want to help and don’t forget that it might be next door. Talk to people you disagree with. Seek things you can agree on.

Simply put, the world is shaking from violence. It needs to shake from decency. We need to regain our hope and confidence for the future.

Is this foolishness, an impossibility given the metastasizing violence? I think not. Wherever you are, whatever else your responsibilities and commitments, you can vote, meet, organize, listen, donate time and money.

We must get human rights out of intensive care, resurrect our commitment to it. We need it home safe to protect us all.

Jack Healey, a former director of Amnesty International USA, is the founder of the Human Rights Action Center. He is the author of “Create Your Future: Lessons from a Life in Civil and Human Rights.”

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