Washington Post: Here’s what is promising, and troubling, about Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s plan to ‘cure all diseases.’
Jeremy Youde, fellow and senior lecturer in international relations at the Australian National University and chair of the global health section of the International Studies Association

“…Philanthropic organizations are playing an increasingly prominent role in global health, but their rise raises questions of accountability and whether deep-pocketed private organizations could distort the larger global health agenda. … Some observers have asked whether private organizations should launch independent public health efforts without oversight or any obligation to account for their work. Rather than putting its resources into an existing organization like the World Health Organization, [the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)] — like [the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] — is creating its own institution and building its own network of collaborating institutions. … Do we want private individuals and institutions to have so much say in how the world tackles something as critical as health? … Critics charge that the opacity of CZI and other private philanthropic funders allows them to set the global health agenda on their own terms — and potentially in opposition to what developing countries actually want in the health space. … [Still,] CZI and other global health philanthropies can complement other global health efforts. … CZI’s efforts can add to what the world already has, bringing more research and more attention to global health” (10/4).