Kindness in an Era of Uncertainty | The Novel Outbreak

Mar 31 , 2020 | COVID-19

Play Video

PODCAST 21:54

Listen Now

Listen On: apple music

In these uncertain times, it’s important to see the current crisis as a human crisis, and remember that radical acts of kindness can bring us closer together and help to make this world a better place to live. One such example is the Shangri-La Hotel in Wuhan. In the midst of the global health crisis, the five-star multinational hotel group provided rooms – a home – for 236 health workers who volunteered to the original epicenter of the crisis, and cooked 24,000 meals for doctors and nurses in hospitals nearby. Given the emergency the city was in, this was a unique challenge in itself. Our host James Chau spoke to Charlie Dang, Executive Vice President for Operations in South China at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, to understand how acts of kindness in challenging times make us human.

SEE MORE EPISODES

Recent Episodes
  • Apr 01 , 2020 | COVID-19
    Costantino della Gherardesca is an Italian writer and television host on the popular show Pechino Express. Due to the pandemic, he has relocated to Rome, where the entertainment industry has come to a near standstill. Costantino says people need emotional relief from the realities of the daily news. It is his public duty, he says, to entertain people and make them smile again - now more than ever. Our host James Chau speaks to Costantino about his role as a leading cultural figure in Italy. Together, they unpack the social landscape and how it is shaping the response in one of the worst-affected countries.
  • Mar 31 , 2020 | COVID-19
    “Everything that happened in China will have to happen in other economies.” Renowned economist Lawrence Lau speaks on the economic, governmental, and societal impacts of the current global health crisis. Professor Lau has lived more than half his life in the United States, studying first at Stanford and Berkeley, before joining the Stanford faculty and becoming a professor at the age of 32. After the onset of SARS, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he continues to serve as the Lauder Professor of Economics. Our host James Chau interviewed him in Hong Kong.
  • Mar 30 , 2020 | COVID-19
    Gender is always critical and again in the COVID-19 pandemic. Early data shows high-risk groups including the ageing population and those with underlying health issues such as long-term heart, liver, kidney and lung disease. But we are also beginning to know that men are more susceptible to infection, though the reasons for this are not clear. At the same time, with women making up the majority of the world’s health workforce, what is the opportunity here to create a new movement for equality, so that the legacy of COVID-19 can produce some meaningful good for all of us? Our host James Chau speaks to Professor Sarah Hawkes, Director of the Centre for Gender and Global Health at the University College of London, and Co-Founder of Global Health 50/50.