By the middle of 2020, when there were more than 2.5 million coronavirus cases in the US, and when numbers were growing at an alarming rate, Cuba had reported just 2,448 cases in a population of 11.3 million. One reason for their success in controlling the outbreak is likely to be the country's strong healthcare system. Cuba has 8.19 doctors per 1,000 patients, which is the highest ratio in the world.

A trillion dollars isn't enough to change the world's healthcare system, so here's an idea. We allocate some of our money to setting up a system of universal healthcare in one country. This country becomes a flagship, an advert to other countries of the benefits of universal healthcare.

I want to choose a large country, so that the transformation is both a challenge and a beacon. Take Ethiopia, for example. With a population of 100 million, Ethiopia has a large economy but only about three doctors per 100,000 people. Maternal and child mortality is relatively high, mainly because most births take place in homes, without the presence of a trained modern midwife. Poor sanitation and inadequate nutrition exacerbate health problems.

If we helped transform Ethiopia's healthcare system, of the many benefits, one would be that trained professional medics would be more inclined to stay in the country rather than emigrate. We'll need to look at and learn from other places, including Indonesia, with its ambitious attempt to introduce a system of universal healthcare, Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, which by 2019 covered 221 million people, or 83% of the population.

So there's some of our money to be spent on a demonstration of universal healthcare. Another good chunk should go to vaccines, both development and deployment. If this wasn't considered much of a priority before the coronavirus crisis, it is now. We all understand only too well now that the development, testing and equitable distribution of a vaccine is a huge and costly undertaking, with results that are far from guaranteed.