The People’s Pandemic

Overview

On December 31, 2019, Dechen Wangmo, Minister of Health for the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, posted on social media a portrait of herself with her eight-year-old son, Tenzin, dressed in matching silk brocade. “Wishing you and your family beautiful moments, treasured memories, and all the blessings. Have a blissful year ahead.”

It had been a productive twelve months for her ministry, during which Wangmo oversaw an ambitious public health agenda that included improving health outcomes for women and children and scaling up a specialty hospital in the capital. But before the year-end celebrations, she phoned a trusted colleague, Dr. Sonam Wangchuk, head of the Royal Centre for Disease Control.