Devi Sridhar

Devi Sridhar

Devi Lalita Sridhar FRSE (born 1984) is an American public health researcher, who is both professor and chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her research considers the effectiveness of public health interventions and how to improve developmental assistance for health. Sridhar directs the University of Edinburgh's Global Health Governance Programme which she established in 2014.

Quotes

• I've personally learned that lies spread faster than truth. People have written entire blogs attacking my expertise and sharing clear falsehoods – such as the claim that I have no published scientific papers, or that I'm a global plant by the World Economic Forum or Gates Foundation, or that I am a philosopher rather than a scientist (because I have a DPhil from Oxford).
  It's easy to laugh at such obvious untruths, until it sinks in that this clickbait gets shared thousands of times. People believe it, and then they too share it. And there is no way to counter every single falsehood. These lies carry more weight among some internet communities than the fact that Edinburgh University evaluated my expertise and granted me a professorship.
  • "I've been lied about and others get death threats. Covid has shown the power of misinformation", The Guardian (1 January 2022).

• [T]he people who make up universities: students, researchers, teaching fellows, support staff, lecturers and professors. Brexit, and the associated drop in immigration, means that we are attracting less top talent at all levels than before leaving the EU. This is clear from the student numbers: roughly 40% fewer EU students applied to UK universities in 2021 than in 2020.
• Similarly, Brexit – and the wider tightening of immigration policy – has made it difficult to hire (and retain) international faculty members. This has ramifications for science collaboration and research. Building a research team is similar to building a top football team: you recruit the best players with the right skill set, expertise and training, regardless of nationality.
  • "After Brexit, if Sunak really wants a ‘science superpower’, he must fix these three things", The Guardian (9 February 2023)

• Many of the arguments (and counter-arguments) made for reducing cars have centred on the environment. But the real reason that cities such as Amsterdam adopted a less car-centric approach in the mid-20th century had to do with a more immediate concern: children being killed by speeding cars. In 1971, more than 400 Dutch children died in traffic accidents. It was a parent group, Stop de Kindermoord (stop the child murder), angered by the large number of deaths that forced politicians to rethink the design of once car-dominated cities in favour of more inclusive urban planning. In 2021, 17 children across the Netherlands were killed in traffic accidents.
• There is a balance to be found between people getting to where they need to go in reasonable time and a safe travel speed. But "anti-motorist" policies aren't the real cause of traffic slowing down. There are simply too many cars on the road, resulting in jams and standstill traffic, and the obvious solution is to provide alternative, affordable options.
  • "The rows over 'anti-motorist' Ulez and LTNs lose sight of the truth: they save lives", The Guardian (4 August 2023)

• But it's also true that if people want to have children, governments should remove the financial and practical blocks that often make it an impossible choice. So far, however, even extensive support hasn't put any rich country back on track to grow its population in the future. This means we must think about immigration as a solution, too, including tackling where resistance to immigration comes from – and how to have a nuanced and balanced debate without making racial concerns the focal point.
  • "When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking", The Guardian (2 April 2024)
  • On the declining birth rate in many countries. Professor Sridhar writes: "The problem is that with ageing populations, economies will struggle to have enough young workers to take up necessary jobs and to pay taxes and social security."