Pediatrician and epidemiologist Quique Bassat, specialist in research on infections, especially malaria, for which he helped develop the first vaccine that the WHO approved, with scientific projects underway in Mozambique, Ethiopia, Morocco and Brazil, principal investigator of a European project to create a low-cost triage test for poor countries, tireless defender of the most vulnerable, which demonstrated during the pandemic that children transmit covid less than adults and provided the scientific data that allowed schools to reopen, and that never tires of defending that “there is no public health intervention more important than reducing infant mortality”, he has been appointed general director of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center promoted by the la Caixa Foundation that is part of the CERCA network of research centers of the Generalitat.
What leads a scientist in the prime of his career to get involved with the management tasks of an institute with 50 research groups and 570 workers?
The desire to lead what I believe ISGlobal should continue to do. It is something that I can do from the direction of the institute but not as director of a research group, as I have been until now. Loyalty to the institution has also influenced. This is my home. I have been here since its beginnings, since before it was called ISGlobal. The natural progression was to step out of my comfort zone of research and take on the challenge of management.
What impact do you think it will have on your career as a researcher?
It is something that I have valued and it is the only thing that made me hesitate before applying. For a scientist it is a renunciation not to be able to dedicate 100% to research. But I have no intention of stopping research. I won’t be able to dedicate as much time to it, but I’m lucky to have an excellent team. The projects will move forward and continue to grow.
Did you show up or were you asked to show up?
It was my initiative. An international public competition was opened to find a new director at the end of Antoni Plasencia’s period and I applied.
What are your plans for ISGlobal?
They are continuing because ISGlobal is already working very well. I am not bringing a revolution but I am bringing some ambitious new developments.
Which is it?
I want to promote innovation to provide solutions to specific health problems in low- and middle-income countries. I also want to strengthen collaboration between ISGlobal teams. We have two separate campuses, one more focused on what was previously called tropical medicine and the other more focused on environmental health and non-infectious diseases. Although we already work together, there are areas in which we can collaborate more and better.
Can you give examples of the innovation solutions you are thinking about?
In the field where I work, we have designed a rapid test that indicates the risk of serious complications and death for a person who arrives at a health center with fever, regardless of whether they have malaria, covid, pneumonia or another disease. We hope that with this project, in which the Sant Joan de Déu hospital collaborates, we can prevent people at high risk from returning home without receiving adequate treatment, which is a major problem in environments where access to health is difficult. and, if you make a mistake, the patient can die at home.
Will it be affordable for poor countries?
It has to be. We have designed it with the aim that it is primarily used there.
The concept ‘global health’ has historically referred to health problems in other regions. Now you are referring to everyone’s health?
With the Ebola crisis in 2014, and especially with the Covid pandemic, we have learned that what happens today in neighboring countries can affect us here tomorrow. We rich countries had forgotten the importance of infectious diseases. Now that the soufflé of the pandemic is subsiding, we have the challenge of showing that global health is everyone’s problem.
With climate change will this problem get worse?
We are already seeing it with cases of dengue in Catalonia, malaria in Florida and other infections transmitted by mosquitoes that are expanding geographically. We are also concerned about health problems related to migration, and how to help people who have health problems due to migration or who acquired them in their place of origin. We are in a moment of polycrisis throughout the world with devastating consequences on people’s health, and those who suffer the most are always the same.
Do populism and polarization also have health consequences?
Absolutely. We have the examples of the pandemic, which had a greater impact in countries with denialist leaders, such as Trump in the United States and Bolsonaro in Brazil. Or in Tanzania, the last country in Africa that accepted diagnostic tests and vaccines, where the president, who was a denier, died of covid. Part of the work we do at ISGlobal consists of reporting on health problems to avoid hoaxes.
How does polarization affect doctors and scientists who ensure everyone’s health?
We have ISGlobal collaborators in Brazil who had to go with bodyguards because they said that chloroquine was not effective against covid, contrary to what Bolsonaro said. In Europe there is more of a culture of listening to technicians and scientists, but I also received death threats here in Barcelona during the pandemic.
Why were they threatening you?
It was at the time when I was spokesperson for the Spanish Association of Pediatrics. We position ourselves in favor of reopening schools and later vaccinating the child population. I received attacks from parents who thought we were putting their children in danger, when as pediatricians what we were concerned about was precisely the health of the children. The attacks came mainly from anti-vaccine people.
Did you need bodyguards?
It didn’t go that far. Some threats arrived by letter here at the ISGlobal headquarters. Others came to me through social networks without me knowing who had sent them. I tried to let it affect me as little as possible, but it wasn’t pleasant.
Are you in favor of acting against denialism or accepting all opinions?
Misinformation is a public health problem, the WHO itself has said. It is not a minor problem and it must be addressed with dialogue, debate, rigor and maximum transparency. During the pandemic there were many people reluctant to get vaccinated due to fear or ignorance. It is legitimate to be afraid and the antidote is information. But ignorance is more difficult to counteract with information, because the ignorant person who is not aware of his ignorance is more reluctant to listen.
