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Two in five people in the Americas live with a neurological condition, new study finds

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Two in five people in the Americas live with a neurological condition, new study finds
  • Research published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas shows that the burden of neurological conditions is increasingly shifting from premature death to long-term disability.

WASHINGTON, USA, (PAHO) – Nearly 470 million people in the Americas, or about two in five people in the Region, are living with at least one noncommunicable or injury-related neurological disorder, including migraine, stroke, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

The study, based on estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, found that the burden of neurological disorders in the Americas is evolving. While age-adjusted death rates have declined since 1990, more people are surviving these conditions and living longer with disability, increasing demand for rehabilitation, long-term care, and support services.

Led by researchers from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the study examined 19 noncommunicable and injury-related neurological conditions across 38 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023. These included stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, migraine, tension-type headache, autism spectrum disorders, and traumatic brain injuries.

Neurological disorders affect the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves and can impair movement, memory, learning, communication, and behavior.

In 2023, these conditions were responsible for an estimated 1.1 million deaths and 37.5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), a measure that combines years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with illness or disability. Together, they accounted for about 12 percent of the total burden from noncommunicable diseases and injuries in the Americas.

“Today, more people are surviving neurological disorders, but they are also living longer with their consequences,” said Ramón Martínez, PAHO health metrics specialist and lead author of the study. “Health systems must adapt to meet growing needs for rehabilitation, long-term care, and support services for people living with disability.”

A shift toward chronic disability

Although age-standardized mortality and disease burden rates declined between 1990 and 2023, the total number of people affected continued to rise influenced by population growth and aging.

The findings point to an epidemiological transition in the region. While the burden associated with some vascular and congenital conditions has fallen, neurodegenerative and other chronic neurological disorders linked to aging are becoming increasingly important.

Migraine and tension-type headache accounted for the largest number of people affected, underscoring the significant impact of chronic neurological conditions on quality of life and productivity. Migraine was also the leading contributor to neurological disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), followed by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, ischemic stroke, and intracerebral hemorrhage.

The study also found that neurological conditions affect people differently across the life course. Among children under five, neural tube defects, autism spectrum disorders, and epilepsy were the leading causes of neurological health loss. Among adolescents and young adults, migraine emerged as a major cause of disability. In older adults, Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias, and stroke accounted for the largest share of the burden.

Researchers also observed sustained increases in several neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, and autism spectrum disorders. Notably, autism spectrum disorders were the only high-burden condition whose DALY rates continued to rise throughout the study period, highlighting growing needs for health, developmental, and support services for children and adolescents.

Preventable risk factors continue to drive disease burden

The study found that a substantial share of neurological health loss in the Americas could be prevented by reducing exposure to modifiable risk factors.

High blood pressure was the leading risk factor for stroke, while elevated blood glucose levels contributed significantly to the burden of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Researchers also identified environmental exposures, particularly lead and air pollution, as important contributors to several neurological conditions.

“Many neurological disorders share risk factors with other noncommunicable diseases,” said Dr. Anselm Hennis, director of PAHO’s department of noncommunicable diseases and mental health and co-author of the study. “Improving prevention and control of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, tobacco use, and harmful environmental exposures could deliver major benefits for brain health across the region.”

“Protecting brain health starts long before the first symptoms appear,” added Renato Oliveira, chief of PAHO’s mental health unit and co-author of the study. “Investing in prevention and risk-factor control can help reduce the burden of neurological disorders while also lowering the risk of other noncommunicable diseases that share the same determinants.”

Persistent gaps in access to care

The burden of neurological disorders is not evenly distributed across the Americas. Researchers found nearly a fourfold difference between countries with the highest and lowest burden. The highest burden was observed in Haiti, Guyana, Suriname, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay, while the lowest rates were recorded in Puerto Rico and several South American countries.

These disparities reflect differences in exposure to risk factors as well as persistent gaps in access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term care. The study highlights shortages of specialists, limited rehabilitation services, and barriers to accessing essential medicines and technologies as continuing challenges across the region.

The authors conclude that addressing the growing burden of neurological disorders will require stronger prevention efforts, integrating neurological care into primary health care, and expanding access to rehabilitation, long-term care, and disability support services. With populations across the Americas aging rapidly, these investments will be critical to reducing disability and improving quality of life in the decades ahead.

Under Mission 300, a new way of doing business connects over 50 million people to electricity across Africa

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Under Mission 300, a new way of doing business connects over 50 million people to electricity across Africa

 – Mission 300 is now delivering electricity access at nearly double the pace recorded at the initiative’s launch — proof that coordinated action can drive large-scale change

CAPE TOWN, AFRICA — The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group announced today that Mission 300 has connected over 50 million people to electricity across 40 countries — a major milestone toward the initiative’s goal of reaching 300 million people by 2030.

Mission 300 is now delivering electricity access at nearly double the pace recorded at the start of the initiative. By investing across the full energy value chain — from generation and transmission to last-mile distribution — it has driven gains in both on-grid and off-grid access, connecting households, businesses, and institutions to power faster than before.

In Tanzania, for example, 7.5 million people have gained access to power under Mission 300 — a five-fold increase in the average annual pace of electrification prior to the initiative — driven by increased financing and growing policy momentum. In Ethiopia, 4.6 million people have been connected, supported by reforms that made grid connections more affordable.

Where past efforts often worked in parallel, Mission 300 aligns governments, partners, and private sector investors around a single shared agenda. That coordination is what is driving faster results: stronger political commitment, deeper policy reform, and the mobilization of resources needed to accelerate electrification and deliver impact on the ground.

To date, the African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group have committed nearly $15 billion in financing and attracted about $4.5 billion in co-financing for Mission 300-related projects, while additional development partners have pledged more than $7 billion in support of Africa’s energy sector.

Mission 300’s unique approach is also changing the conditions under which private investors participate in African energy markets. By combining government reforms with layered public financing — including grants, guarantees, and concessional loans — the platform is mitigating risks for private providers to serve communities that were previously too costly or difficult to serve.

In Nigeria, more than 4.5 million people have been connected through private sector-led initiatives, demonstrating how well-designed public support and partner financing can help create commercially viable markets.

To date, 30 countries have launched National Energy Compacts, country-led plans to strengthen energy systems, expand affordable power generation, scale renewable energy solutions, promote regional integration, and increase private sector participation. Additional compacts are expected to be launched by Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Gabon, Rwanda and Uganda at the Africa Energy Forum this week.

“Fifty million people connected is a milestone — but the bigger story is the pace and the partnership behind it. Mission 300 is helping countries move faster, connect more people, and build a platform that will last well beyond this effort — one others can use, build on, and scale for years to come. At the end of the day, electricity is not just about power. It is about what it enables: jobs, business, health care, education, and opportunity,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group.

“The 50 million milestone is indeed commendable. This must become the launchpad for faster electrification to enhance food security on account of affordable irrigation; increase capacity to store medicines for better health outcomes, and spur more inclusive economic and social empowerment,” said Sidi Ould Tah, president of the African Development Bank Group. “ Governments, partners, private sector, and others who comprise what has evolved into an M300 movement must double down to achieve access for 300 million people by 2030. We need all hands on deck – literally!

Partners are leaning into Mission 300

“Connecting over 50 million to electricity is a major milestone for Mission 300. It proves that African-led big bets, empowered by bold investment and partnership, can deliver results quickly and at scale,” said Rajiv J. Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation. “The Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Global Energy Alliance, has committed more than $100 million to Mission 300 because we know that every new connection means a family with new access to the jobs, education, and the dignity they deserve.”

“The 50 million milestone shows that Mission 300 is moving beyond ambition and delivering real results for people across Africa. These achievements reflect the strong political commitment and implementation capacity of African governments,” said Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. “Together with our partners, Sustainable Energy for All will continue to support governments in implementing their National Energy Compacts and accelerating progress towards universal energy access by 2030.”

“Achieving electricity connections for 50 million people proves that we can move faster when public, private and philanthropic partners align behind country-led solutions,” said Woochong Um, CEO of Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. “As Africa becomes home to the world’s largest young workforce, Mission 300 is the engine that will help power the jobs and economic growth the continent urgently needs.”

Launched in 2024, Mission 300 is a joint initiative of the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and Sustainable Energy for All, and a broad coalition of governments, development institutions, and private sector partners.

When elephants fight

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When elephants fight

By Johnny Coomansingh

Many moons ago in our home, there was a constant battle between my father and my mother. They were like two fighting elephants. However, most of the blows fell on my mother. Both of them have passed into the great beyond, but the memories of their incessant fighting are still present in my mind; so difficult to forget. Like John Keats’ ‘Naughty Boy,’ I stood in my shoes (if I had any) and wondered when the fighting would cease.

Ascribed to the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya, the Swahili saying: “Ndovu wawili wakipigana nyasi ndio huumia,” means, ‘When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers.’ Without any doubt, we the children got ‘trampled.’ Some of us are still tired and broken from the literal flagellations and mental lacerations. Caught in the middle of the mêlée, we were like the grass on which the elephants trampled. Nevertheless, we grew bigger and went on the offensive. Eventually the male ‘elephant’ gave up and left for England; never to return. I am of the view that Brian Harris, in his blog When elephants fight the grass suffers…posted on the Internet on April 25, 2025, could not have said it better:

“A good friend recently drew my attention to a fascinating Swahili proverb, best translated as, “When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.” We had been talking about the rise in global unrest, and who the victims are. When the big players fight (or when the elephants fight), it is a host of innocent bystanders (the grass) who suffer the most. True, sometimes elephants fight to the death, especially during the “musth” period when testosterone-filled bulls can become very aggressive, but most often they simply walk away, while the grass below takes a lot longer to recover…I am always concerned when unnecessary suffering is inflicted, or when leaders forget that leadership is supposed to be “on behalf of” those impacted by their leadership.

It’s why Jesus insisted that those who wanted to be first needed to be willing to be last, the servant of all. In the Bible, true leaders (in the sense of leaders worth following) are those whose ambition is for the greater good, not their personal agenda or private concerns…

As multiple aid agencies around the world are having to shut up shop with their financial aid halted in a heartbeat; as global conflict escalates and reaches new levels of uncertainty and insecurity; as pensioners worry as they see share markets wildly duck and dive, putting their paltry savings in serious and unnecessary jeopardy; as long standing national friends turn their backs on each other; as truth is blatantly twisted and distorted, and heroes are insulted and corruption is praised – it is the grass that suffers – yes, ordinary people wanting to live peaceable lives. They don’t want artificial conflicts imposed upon them. They want security, and peace, and goodwill, and hope.”

Harris admitted that he is not an elephant. We aren’t either. So what can we do as the elephants jostle each other? He pointed out that we can take some steps while the ‘elephants’ are fighting. He said: “We can look out for each other. In an environment that escalates differences, we can spot what we hold in common…reach out in kindness, be a little bolder in including those who are not usually part of our circle…we can be people of hope.”

As I have said so many times in my deliberations, a rotten egg is a rotten egg. You could fry it, boil it, scramble it, steam it, poach it, or even make an omelette with it; it is still stinky and putrid. Try as you may, a rotten egg will not change. We must learn to call what is evil by its right name! Evil! An apple vendor once told me that his apples are not so bad. I did not mind the natural pockmarks on the fruits, but there were visible bruises and sore areas on the apples. He intimated that the apples were not-so-bad and was selling them at the same price. The ‘not-so-bad’ concept in my book is damned bad! In Trinidad, the term “lash mango” is quite popular. When buying mango, I heard people telling the mango vendor, “Me eh want no lash mango nah.”

Truthfulness is hard to come by when elephants are fighting to the death. They don’t care who gets crushed. Musth is derived from the Urdu and Persian word mast, which is roughly translated to mean ‘intoxicated.’ Many are the leaders who live in their ‘ivory palaces’ knock champagne glasses, become inebriated and eat caviar while they entertain arguments about who is right, and who is wrong, and who is indifferent, and who are insubordinate, and who should foot the bill. All this is happening when the proletariat and lumpenproletariat struggle for a morsel of bread that may fall from their tables.

During the 1990s, when I worked in the petroleum industry in the deep south of Trinidad, I witnessed people from the area asking in the ‘pluck shop’ for half of a chicken because they did not have the money to buy a whole one. Some went to the supermarket and could only afford to buy smoked bones to flavour their Sunday callaloo. Jesus the Christ once said that the poor will always be among us, but in that oil-producing area there were too many poor and struggling people. I witnessed that scenario while the elephants were politically fighting about who should get and who must not get.

For many residents in the oil belt, life was ‘hard like banga.’ In other words, they were constantly living in what we know as ‘guava season.’ This was compounded by the lack of potable water for all the villages. I once visited a relatively new home in Santa Flora with all the plumbing fixtures intact. The owner informed me that not one drop of water flowed through the faucets for fifteen years and counting! Strange as it may sound, the village of Santa Flora was the home of the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Company (TRINTOPEC). Right there was the juxtaposition of two liquids: the black gold, the ‘blood of the Earth’ versus the ‘blood of the people.’ Some of the residents were always struggling to make two ends meet, but someone was always moving the ends. It was quite noticeable that the wealth of the oil belt was shovelled and deposited elsewhere to enrich a few.

In a place that was pulling oil from hundreds of oil wells, residents were still fighting to survive. And there I found myself in what I would term the privileged class. My children attended the best schools in Trinidad and even had a company bus to take them to and from school. Not only that, they enjoyed the senior staff club’s swimming pool and every other sporting facility that the company offered. What struck me was how the little children from the adjacent village peered in from outside of the chain-link fence. I knew that they were wondering if they would ever get the opportunity to enjoy the swimming pool like everybody else. The famous staff club is no more, but this was an example of the inequality that existed then and in some ways still exists today in Trinidad and Tobago. Governments come, and governments go, and we hope for change, but change is hard. Sometimes things change but yet remain the same.

April 28, 2026 marked one year since the United National Congress (UNC) wrested control of Trinidad and Tobago from the People’s National Movement (PNM), who held the reins of power for the past ten years. Unwind TT, a content-driven news magazine platform on Facebook, showed that Kamla Persad-Bissesar, the new prime minister labelled as Kamla 2.0, was not going to entertain any pretenders in the UNC. Indeed, young political elephants, both male and female, are always around. The headline: ‘Kamla 2.0 pledges either peace or total war,’ was a message to her critics. The prime minister said, “If you come for my eye, I will take your whole head.” Her advice to the UNC leadership pretenders followed, “If you came for my head, make sure you don’t miss.”

Unwind TT presented a 19-question interview conducted by Anna Ramdass, senior political reporter with the Trinidad Express newspaper and the prime minister. The following is the UnWindTT preamble of the interview:

“One year into her administration, Persad-Bissessar said her leadership remains firmly anchored in the interests of the people, and that she will not be diverted from her mission to transform Trinidad and Tobago. Over the past year, the Prime Minister—dubbed “KPB 2.0” by the UNC—has spoken bluntly, adopting a no-nonsense approach on issues. The nation saw that intensity last September when she famously (or infamously) declared that narco-traffickers must be violently killed after the United States of America (USA) launched strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea.

From challenging regional norms within CARICOM to openly aligning Trinidad and Tobago with the administration of US president Donald Trump, Persad-Bissessar has reshaped both her political posture and the country’s external positioning. At home, she has issued repeated warnings to her ministers and to the criminal underworld, while pledging to be “ruthless” in pursuing what is right, including within CARICOM. She has also made it clear that her kindness must never be mistaken for weakness. She further said that, to date, she has received no complaints of corruption within her cabinet, as her administration moves into the second year of its five-year mandate.”

In every political party there are elephants. Some tend to hide in the political bushes and thickets until the right moment; there might be a few in the UNC and certainly in the PNM. The battle for power is ever-present; somebody is always hankering for a fight to take full control. Such people never entertain the grass beneath their feet. What I witness today in parliament is no exception. There are fighting elephants on both sides of the aisle but quite bizarre is the fact that many of them sit together and have tea in the tea room of the Red House. There have been some alleged physical incidents between elephants in that tea room. Is our parliament a puppet box with puppeteers who know about the elements of theatre?

Today in our world, elephants are fighting in the north, in the east, in the west and in the south. If it’s not Ukraine and Russia, it’s the United States and Iran. If it’s not Israel and Palestine, it’s India and Pakistan. As Bob Marley said: “Everywhere is war!” And don’t doubt me, the grass is suffering everywhere. Despite the State of Emergency (SOE), the huge elephants in the gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are constantly fighting. Last Friday (18/07/26), I saw that there were 209 murders posted on Ian Alleyne’s Crime Watch.

Do we have thoughts that all these elephants should stop fighting? Should we not consider the text contained in Isaiah 2:4? “…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Hope is all we have for the elephants to stop fighting.

PAHO to participate in AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro

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PAHO to participate in AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro
  • Focus on HIV elimination, innovation, hepatitis, and tuberculosis in the Americas
  • PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa will take part in the conference opening and several high-level events.

RIO DE JANERIO, Brazil, (PAHO) – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) will participate in the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026), to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 26–31, with a strong focus on accelerating HIV elimination efforts in the Americas and expanding access to innovations that are transforming HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

PAHO director Dr Jarbas Barbosa will participate in the opening session of AIDS 2026 and in several high-level events on HIV, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, innovation, and access to new health technologies. His participation will highlight how countries across the Americas can leverage scientific advances, primary health care, regional cooperation, and community engagement to advance toward ending HIV as a public health threat.

The conference comes at a pivotal moment for the global HIV response. Today, the region has unprecedented tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat HIV, including new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) options, rapid tests, HIV self-testing, highly effective antiretroviral therapies, and community-based service delivery models.

However, significant gaps remain: approximately 34% of new HIV diagnoses in Latin America and the Caribbean are made at a late stage of infection, while hundreds of thousands of people who know their HIV status still do not have access to treatment due to barriers to care, stigma, and inequalities.

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean finance more than 90 percent of HIV investments through domestic resources, making the region a global leader in the sustainable financing of the HIV response. At the same time, PAHO warns that continued investment will be needed to ensure that innovations reach those who need them most.

One of PAHO’s main priorities during AIDS 2026 will be promoting the Alliance for the Elimination of HIV in the Americas, a regional platform designed to accelerate early diagnosis, expand access to PrEP, optimise antiretroviral treatment, and strengthen collaboration among governments, communities, international organisations, academia, technical partners, and the private sector.

DHS – S&T launches synthetic baggage image dataset to accelerate airport screening innovation

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DHS – S&T launches synthetic baggage image dataset to accelerate airport screening innovation

WASHINGTON, USA – Limited access to high-quality data has long slowed the development of faster, more accurate baggage screening systems at airports.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is tackling this challenge by launching a first-of-its-kind dataset of 250 synthetic carry-on baggage images. This initiative supports the president’s executive orders to secure public safety and improve trade and travel, while helping innovators accelerate the creation of next-generation screening technology.

“Detection algorithms are key to reducing false alarms that cause hands-on bag inspections and longer checkpoint wait times,” said Pedro Allende, DHS under secretary for science and technology. “Enabling rapid algorithm development from the best innovators not only will increase detection accuracy at the checkpoint but also improve the traveller experience.”

“Currently, only a limited number of images of curated bags are available to train carry-on baggage algorithms, and developers must complete a vetting process to view them, which is prohibitive for some,” said screening at speed program manager, Dr John Fortune.

To address this, Cignal LLC of Reedsville, Pennsylvania, developed synthetic images for S&T’s Screening at Speed Program. The dataset, available by request on Cignal’s website, includes 250 computed tomography (CT) X-ray images that mirror the high-resolution scans produced by the Transportation Security Administration’s latest detection systems. Future releases may feature larger, more complex bag sets and synthetic millimeter wave images for training passenger screening systems.

The images will be released in Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) format, familiar to algorithm developers across industries.

AfDB to provide USD 13 million to bolster Ebola response-outbreak in DRC, South Sudan and Uganda

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AfDB to provide USD 13 million to bolster Ebola response-outbreak in DRC, South Sudan and Uganda

AFRICA – The African Development Bank Group has approved grants worth USD 13 million to enhance national emergency responses to the Ebola virus disease (EVD-B) outbreak and strengthen efforts to arrest its spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Uganda.

On 15 May 2026, DRC announced a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease centred in Ituri province, in the east of the country, and also affecting Bunia, Rwampara and Mongwalu.

The funding package comprises a grant of USD 10 million drawing on reallocated resources from the Bank Group’s DRC portfolio, and which will be channelled through the World Health Organisation (WHO). A second grant of USD 3 million, sourced from the African Development Bank’s Multi-Country Emergency Assistance Project covering DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, will be implemented by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).  DRC, the epidemic’s epicentre, will receive USD 11 million dollars of the funding; Uganda and South Sudan will each receive $1 million from the same project.

Under the bank group’s Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response Plan, the funds will be deployed to halt the spread of the virus and reduce related mortality and morbidity in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in close coordination with the countries’ health ministries. Components of this effort will include strengthening early case diagnosis, epidemiological surveillance, community engagement, public awareness and regional coordination.

“This emergency support reflects the African Development Bank Group’s commitment to supporting the Democratic Republic of Congo and countries in the region in protecting human lives, strengthening the resilience of health systems and preventing the spread of the epidemic,” said Mohamed Cherif, deputy director general for Central Africa and DRC country manager at the African Development Bank Group. “Through this support, the Bank Group reaffirms its commitment to standing by regional member countries in times of crisis,” he noted.

Since the Ebola outbreak in May, the disease has also spread to the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. This new outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, a particularly virulent variant for which there is, to date, neither an approved vaccine nor a specific treatment.

Will Artificial Intelligence broadly raise living standards or drive income and wealth inequality?

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Will Artificial Intelligence broadly raise living standards or drive income and wealth inequality?
    • At “Next-Gen Financial Inclusion,” the third annual Financial Inclusion Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Board

By Governor Michael S. Barr

… Our focus in this conference is financial inclusion, and something that will likely have great consequences for financial inclusion and our economy more broadly in the years ahead is artificial intelligence (AI). As I have explored in a number of speeches over the past several years, AI has the potential to transform lives and the US economy, possibly empowering workers to be more productive, with lower- and middle-income workers benefiting the most. But it is also the case that AI may instead exacerbate inequality, eliminating some lower- and middle-income jobs while boosting the income and wealth of higher-income individuals. Since we don’t know which of these futures will come about, it is useful to use potential scenarios, as I’ve done previously with respect to AI and the economy.

Every major technological advance has had profound effects on labor markets and the economy. Many workers have suffered from these technological changes, while many other workers have seen new opportunities emerge. In the long run, technological advances tend to broadly raise living standards by creating more jobs than they destroy and increasing productivity. But transitions and outcomes can vary, and in the period following the mass adoption of a general-purpose technology—such as electricity, the telephone, and internet-enabled personal computers—the number of people dislocated and the extent of the harm they may suffer can be large and persistent.

Balancing those scales of costs and benefits involves examining whether the benefits are broadly shared or concentrated. Past experience has shown that technological leaps forward can raise living standards. But when the benefits are concentrated among relatively few people, technology can widen inequalities of income and wealth, especially during the transition period. Widespread adoption of the internet raised the productive capacity of our economy and broadly raised living standards, but it also likely exacerbated inequality because it benefited information-intensive jobs (such as accountants) more than other jobs (say, construction workers).

The policy challenge is therefore not simply to observe the development and deployment of AI, but also, as a society, to consider policies related to AI and its effects on education, job training and workforce development, competition, tax policy, and other areas that allow the gains from AI to be shared across workers, households, and communities, rather than accruing to a small group of firms and investors. Of course, these policies are not within the remit of the Federal Reserve but rather for other policymakers to consider and decide.

The question I would like to consider today is whether AI will likely help narrow inequalities of income and wealth, supporting advances in financial inclusion, or widen those inequalities, undermining the recent gains in financial inclusion that we rightly celebrate today.

Understanding inequality

Let’s start with understanding income and wealth inequality.

To understand income inequality, it helps to break income into its components. The largest component is labor income. Disparities in labor income across individuals reflect the supply of and demand for their skills, their productivity, and their time spent at work—all things that will be affected by AI. Income also includes earnings from capital and investments and, thus, includes the concentration of ownership in firms, such as AI companies. In 2024, the highest-earning one-fifth of US households earned 52 percent of all income, and the bottom 20 percent earned only 3 percent. In 2024, the United States was the sixth most unequal of the countries in the G20.

Wealth inequality is a function of the distribution of ownership of assets—land, goods, businesses, intellectual property, and other investment assets. The bottom one-half of UShouseholds hold less than 3 percent of wealth, the top one-tenth hold 59 percent, and the top one-tenth of a percent hold 15 percent. When returns from investments are reinvested, wealth naturally compounds. As a result, those who already own appreciating assets often see their wealth grow much faster than households that rely primarily on wages, widening the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

A central question is whether AI will expand opportunity by giving more people access to valuable skills and productive work, or whether it will reinforce advantages that are already concentrated among a smaller population. Inequality matters not just for workers today, but it is also closely connected with an important aspect of the American Dream—the expectation that in the future, our children will be able to make better lives for themselves, including through rising living standards.

How AI could widen inequality

Let me start with the possible ways in which AI could widen inequality.

Automation and labor displacement

First, AI could lead to labor displacement. Something that is at the top of mind for most people, especially younger workers, is the concern that AI could drastically reduce the demand for them. AI might disproportionately affect new entrants to the labor market. According to a well-known paper by Claudia Golden and Larry Katz, in some previous technological waves, the benefits have tended to improve outcomes for more-skilled and more-educated workers.8 But in this scenario, AI could harm not only less-skilled workers, but also younger college-educated workers whose skills are more easily replicated by AI than in prior technological waves. Moreover, workers who use AI more intensely might gain the most, and workers who use the most advanced and expensive AI models might win out over those who use baseline models.

In the Federal Reserve’s most recent Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, 43 percent of workers with a graduate degree reported using AI in the previous month, compared with 10 percent of workers with a high school degree or less. The survey further found that workers who used AI were more likely to say that it would improve their careers than replace their jobs. Measures of exposure to generative AI also suggest that higher education and higher-paid workers are much more exposed to generative AI. The consequences of these facts are not yet clear. If AI mostly substitutes for labor, then not being exposed to AI would be positive for such workers; however, if AI augments existing jobs, then workers not exposed to AI would be left behind.

There is substantial uncertainty about how the labor market will evolve. As of right now, there has been little evidence of economy-wide job displacement from AI. Yet there is some evidence that AI may have made job entry harder for young workers in some job categories. Given both the history of major technological advances and how early we are in the timeline of AI adoption, it is important to consider the full range of possible future effects, including the potential for more widespread labor displacement.

Potential concentration

Another concern is concentration. A high degree of market concentration has important implications for individuals’ economic outcomes. We don’t know how the market will evolve. At one extreme, competition and distributed innovation could lead to AI becoming a cheap and ubiquitous commodity. In this scenario, access is democratised, and gains are widely shared. Start-ups and smaller businesses have access to state-of-the-art AI resources and can continue their role as a key source of innovative ideas, goods, and services as well as an important engine of job creation for the US economy.

But according to a 2025 paper by Anton Korineck and Jai Vipra, an important factor is that AI has some characteristics that have, in the past, reinforced concentration of market power. Like other high-tech innovations, because AI depends on access to data, model improvements, and computing power, it benefits from economies of scale and scope. Greater data, model improvements, and computing power yield vastly greater intelligence and capabilities. The high return from this advantage helps explain the huge investments and concentration of AI investment in giant firms, which is why they are referred to as “hyperscalers.”

AI has another feature that seems to be driving ever-greater concentration of market power—the fact that AI itself is a powerful tool to train and accelerate development of new AI models. That is, AI improves its own research and development. While computing technology has always tended to support the market dominance of industry leaders, the extent of the advantage possessed by AI industry leaders may prove to be unprecedented.

As a result of these forces, it is possible that a small number of AI firms may dominate the market and investment returns may accrue primarily to owners of AI. In this potential future, wealth generation—and, to some extent, income generation for those workers who can benefit from access to AI resources—could increase. But less access to ever-improving AI resources for most other firms and their employees would mean slower productivity growth for them, and a steadily widening gap between them and the firms and their employees with more access. As I said at the outset, I am not predicting this particular outcome, just exploring it as a possible scenario.

How AI could alleviate inequality

Let me turn to scenarios in which AI could reduce inequality.

AI as a productivity tool

One scenario is broader access to capability building, resulting in broader productivity gains. Just as the printing press democratized knowledge and the internet democratized information, AI may democratize capability itself. By giving millions of people access to tutoring, coaching, writing assistance, programming support, and problem-solving guidance, AI could enable individuals to develop skills that were once reserved for those with exceptional education, wealth, or mentorship. In this future, AI could be a rising tide that lifts all boats rather than widening the inequality we’ve seen in recent decades, sinking other ships. A growing body of research suggests that AI can augment worker productivity without necessarily replacing workers, with especially large gains for less-experienced workers, allowing individuals to perform a broader array of tasks and increasing overall economic output.

In one experiment, college-educated professionals completed a range of assignments, writing short reports or analyses, and then carried out a second round of assignments with the help of AI. AI reduced the average time to complete assignments by 40 percent and improved the quality of the results by 18 percent—a combination that constitutes a significant productivity gain. The biggest improvements were among those who did the worst on the unaided assignment, narrowing the productivity gap.

Acquiring skills or building experience and expertise in any occupation is hard. It demands effort and discipline, often requires years of effort, and depends on education, the capability to acquire and retain knowledge, and the judgment to use knowledge and other resources wisely. AI has the potential to expand expertise, shortening the time and reducing the work needed to build skills, or directly providing those skills themselves, raising productivity the most for lower-skilled, less-educated workers.

AI could also lower the barriers to entrepreneurship for those with a good idea who may lack certain skills, such as finance or accounting, to develop or implement that idea. The democratisation of coding capabilities enabled by AI models is also an example of how AI could level the playing field for a critical input for many businesses. While it is too early to know how helpful AI might be to entrepreneurship, the rapid adoption of AI among small businesses is a strong signal of the potential value.

New jobs

AI could also create new jobs, ones we haven’t even imagined yet, as we’ve seen with other general-purpose technologies. Consider that by some estimates, there are 12 million full-time social media influencers earning a living today in the United States, something that was unimaginable a decade ago. Research suggests that major technological advances lead to this type of job creation, and the bigger the advance, the greater the impact on the labor market. For those who tend to see job dislocation from technological advances as a zero-sum game, it is worth remembering what economists call the “lump of labor fallacy.”

The labor market is not zero sum. For example, spreadsheet software such as Excel replaced the lower-skilled aspects of basic accounting jobs, which raised the productivity of accountants. That is, instead of substituting for a person, technology augmented that person’s ability to do their job. Instead of eliminating a field, technological advances redefined what was possible. AI may be able to do that across the economy. If so, AI could help lower inequality by creating new, more-productive, and higher-paying jobs.

What determines the outcome

I have laid out what are, roughly speaking, the worst- and best-case scenarios of how AI may affect inequality. And there could be many scenarios in between. It is impossible to predict now which of these versions of the future is more likely, but I will talk through a few examples of factors that could shape that outcome.

Education, job training, and workforce development

The first is education, job training, and workforce development. In the same way that computer skills are essential to many jobs today, proficiency with AI may well be a necessary skill for the jobs of the future. Workers will need to prompt AI, integrate AI into workflows, oversee coding agents, and manage multiple AI agents. They will need to exercise judgment about AI inputs and outputs, verify AI results, and expand the frontier of human knowledge.

AI’s amazing facility in writing computer code is likely to replace individuals whose only job was to write basic code; however, it will empower not only advanced coding experts who will oversee coding agents, but also empower many more people without formal coding training to use coding to turn their ideas into functional programs. If this is hard to visualize, consider how calculators, word processors, and presentation software have democratised the workplace. Not long ago, these functions were carried out by specialists but are now minimum qualifications for most office jobs.

Education will be critical in how well workers and the US economy adapt to the AI revolution. Economists Claudia Golden and Lawrence Katz explored this history in The Race Between Education and Technology, recounting how both the supply and demand for education responded throughout the 20th century to the technological needs of the economy. First, the dramatic growth in high school completion helped move the country away from agriculture as the dominant industry. In the second half of the century, the proliferation of higher education responded to the need for specialised expertise in many occupations. In this next wave, a crucial question about how AI may affect inequality will be if high-quality and affordable education and training are widely available not only at the outset, but also throughout one’s working life.

Yet a focus on AI skills alone is not likely to be the right approach. My instinct is that curiosity, flexibility, and, importantly, common sense and human judgment are likely to be critical skills in this new economy. As Ethan Mollick argued in his book Co-Intelligence, success in the AI era depends less on mastering the technology itself than on developing the human capacities to ask insightful questions. This includes being able to distinguish sound reasoning from plausible nonsense, make ethical judgments, and integrate knowledge across disciplines. So, it is not just a question of learning AI skills. To be successful in the future, both young people and those already in their careers are going to need to learn the skills necessary for an economy in which change happens at an increasingly fast pace. Investment in human-centered skills, relationships, and the liberal arts is likely to be as important as technical skills.

Competition and market structure

The market structure of AI firms will also matter to outcomes. As explained by Korinek and Vipra, competition is an essential force promoting income and wealth equality. Competition lowers costs, spreads access to technological advances and makes it more likely that the benefits of those advances are shared widely among consumers and workers. If firms leading the AI revolution achieve dominant positions of market power, the benefits might be concentrated among a fortunate few. Competition alone would not lead to less inequality, as labor and capital markets allocate gains across firms and workers, but competition is an important input into broadly shared gains.

Conclusion

In conclusion, scenarios for AI adoption vary widely regarding how AI might affect inequality. How the market evolves will matter a great deal. But so too will public policy. AI, like past major technological advances, will shape the labor market and the broader economy in myriad ways. It is unclear whether AI will reduce or increase income and wealth inequality, but society can begin making choices now that can affect that outcome. Decisions on AI policy, education, worker training and workforce development, competition, tax policy, and other areas will help determine this outcome. We have heard many bold pronouncements about what AI will be able to do in the near and distant future. Some will likely come to pass and others won’t. But future inequality will depend not only on what AI can do, but on what we choose to do with AI.

Turning Africa’s water crisis from an emergency to economic opportunity

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Turning Africa’s water crisis from an emergency to economic opportunity

By Mahamat Idriss, Déby Itno and Anna Bjerde

Africa does not have a water problem. Africa has a water opportunity; what is missing is not the water, but the infrastructure, institutions, and financing needed to transform water into jobs, growth, food security, and resilience.

Africa has seen its population grow from 800 million to 1.3 billion over the past two decades, but the availability of clean, safe water across the continent hasn’t kept pace. More than 400 million people in the region still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 700 million have no access to basic sanitation.

Recognising the urgent need to advance on this issue, the government of Chad and the World Bank Group are hosting a summit this week to discuss what it will take—from governments, development partners, and the private sector—to accelerate progress at scale.  As leaders chart a path forward together, one thing is abundantly clear: Africa’s water issues present a huge economic opportunity.

The Nile has sustained economies for millennia. The Congo Basin discharges more freshwater into the ocean than any river system outside the Amazon. Lake Chad, Lake Victoria, the Niger, the Zambezi, the Senegal, the Chari, the Logone, and the Volta rivers form a network of shared natural assets that, combined, can power Africa’s economies and feed hundreds of millions of people.

With more than 80 transboundary river and lake basins and the Nubian Sandstone, the need for Africa to develop shared goals and a unified approach is obvious. A collective, collaborative approach to water will generate benefits well beyond the sector itself. Globally, 1.7 billion jobs are in water-dependent sectors, including agribusiness, tourism, mining, and manufacturing—sectors likely to be engines for Africa’s future growth and job creation.

We must broaden how we view water, treating it not as a stand-alone sector but as the foundation for economic growth, human development, food security, and climate resilience.

Water Forward, a global effort launched by the World Bank Group and partners, does exactly that. Along with its goal of delivering water security to more than a billion people by 2030, Water Forward aims to move water from a source of risk to a driver of jobs, growth, and resilience. At its core is making water systems investable, scalable, and capable of supporting regional prosperity.

This presents a huge opportunity for Africa, a continent rich with water but lacking the infrastructure, institutions, and financing needed to put that water to work changing people’s lives. Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene remain major drivers of preventable disease, child mortality, and lost productivity. The burden falls heaviest on women and girls, who spend hours collecting water—time that could be spent in school or in income-generating work.

Food security could also be vastly improved, notably through climate-smart irrigation on farms and stronger protection against floods and droughts. Agriculture employs more than 60 percent of Africa’s workforce, yet about 95 percent of cultivated land depends on rainfall. Expanding investment in irrigation will not only strengthen food security, it will create jobs, boost productivity, and increase rural incomes.

A coordinated approach

Across Africa, countries are recognising that water challenges cannot be solved in isolation. Shared river basins demand shared solutions through joint infrastructure, coordinated data, and collective political ownership. The approach most likely to result in rapid, consistent progress is a country-based one that has governments leading with reforms and investment plans. Only then can countries attract the necessary partners—development banks, governments, philanthropies, and the private sector— to help make the plans a reality on the ground.

For Chad, this is a national priority. The Lake Chad Basin, once one of Africa’s largest freshwater bodies, has shrunk dramatically over the past half-century, putting pressure on the communities, economies, and ecosystems that depend on it. Collective region-wide action is essential. By convening and co-hosting the African Water forum, Chad is helping drive a broader shift: from fragmented responses to coordinated, scalable action.

Three priorities—and a model to deliver

The path forward is clear: countries first need to adopt integrated, investment-ready water strategies that link people, food, and ecosystems, then convert these plans into bankable projects. The Water Forward initiative advances this through country-led Water Compacts that align governments and partners around bankable water investment pipelines.

Second, they must mobilise financing at scale, bringing together public resources, private capital, and development finance around a single, government-led agenda. This requires finance ministers and water-sector leaders working together from the outset.

Third, regional cooperation must be operationalised through joint investments, shared data systems, and strengthened basin governance.

The potential benefits are enormous. Water is one of the most powerful development multipliers available to African countries. Every dollar invested in water security creates gains across healthcare, agriculture, energy, education, and economic productivity.

Africa has both the vision and the water. What it needs now is collective action at scale. The commitments emerging from the African Water Forum should mark the beginning of a new phase, one focused on implementation, investment, and results. By working together, African countries, development partners, the private sector, and regional institutions can unlock water’s full economic potential—making it one of Africa’s greatest engines of growth, jobs, regional stability, resilience, and shared prosperity for generations to come.

This blog was previously published in Jeune Afrique.

Africa wants to make its critical minerals a lever for industrialisation and economic transformation

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Africa wants to make its critical minerals a lever for industrialisation and economic transformation

AFRICA – African ministers, representatives from continental institutions, the private sector, and development partners have called for Africa’s critical minerals to drive a new era of economic transformation, industrialisation and job creation – especially for young people and women, through value addition, regional value chains and beneficiation.

The call was made at the Ministerial Forum on Critical Minerals, Value Chains, and Beneficiation, held in Abidjan on 10 July 2026.

In a statement released at the end of the Forum organised by the African Development Bank Group, participants emphasised that the continent must extract more value from its abundant mineral resources by developing regional value chains, local processing capacities, and competitive industries, rather than continuing to primarily export raw materials.

Africa holds about 30 percent of the world’s most critical mineral deposits, including cobalt, lithium, graphite, rare earths, platinum group metals, copper, manganese, and nickel. Yet, the continent continues to export raw and unprocessed minerals, capturing only a negligible share of the total economic value of its own resources.

This situation perpetuates an extraction model that shifts job creation, industrial capacities, and technological know-how outside the continent. Fragmentation due to national approaches further weakens Africa’s bargaining power in global mining value chains, reducing its strategic influence when it should be maximised by building regional value chains.

Participants stressed the need to establish a favorable environment for local processing of critical minerals, notably through investments in energy and transport infrastructure, better knowledge of geological resources, coherent public policies, a regulatory framework conducive to investments, and stronger governance of natural resources.

Titled “Ministerial Forum on Critical Minerals, Value Chains, and Beneficiation: Pathways to Transformation for Africa,” the meeting brought together African ministers responsible for Mines, Energy, Industry, Natural Resources, and the Green Economy. There were also representatives of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, regional development banks, the private sector, and technical partners.

Dr Hanan Morsy, deputy-executive secretary of UNECA;  Jeremy Wiggins, deputy-secretary for International Affairs at the US Department of the Treasury, and Shuichi Hosoda, deputy-vice minister for International Affairs at the Japanese ministry of finance, also joined the meeting.

“By bringing together African governments, investors, development financing institutions, technical and financial partners here in Abidjan, we have opened a new chapter in relations between Africa and the rest of the world regarding the exploitation and management of critical minerals,” said Dr Sidi Ould Tah, president of the African Development Bank Group.

He set the tone at the opening of the event, emphasising that Africa needs to make a paradigm shift to establish a new partnership for the continent so it can better manage its resources and derive all necessary benefits for its populations.

The Abidjan meeting focused on regional cooperation as an essential path to connect mineral deposits, energy systems, transport corridors, ports, industrial zones, skills, financing, and markets, thereby creating integrated and viable African production systems.

“Africa is ready to make critical minerals a lever for industrial transformation,” said Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, Ivorian minister of mines, petroleum, and energy, who read the Forum’s declaration.

“The world is entering an era that is built on critical minerals,” said Hanan Morsy at the opening. “For Africa, this presents an opportunity that is as significant as independence 60 years ago.  But opportunities don’t transform economies. Strategy does!”

Morsy said Africa’s comparative advantage lay not in competing national strategies, but in an integrated value chain system under AfCFTA where countries specialise according to their comparative advantage while collectively capturing far greater value.

“Africa has the human capital, the resources, and the opportunity to become the greatest industrial growth story of the 21st century.” But he emphasised the importance of good governance, saying the opportunity offered by Africa’s critical minerals require transparent, predictable and well-governed regulatory regimes. “Good governance is not an obstacle to investment. It is what makes it endurable,” Wiggins said.

Forum participants emphasised the importance of strengthening African partnerships, promoting technology transfer, developing local skills, and ensuring greater transparency and traceability in supply chains so that the benefits of critical minerals can sustainably support African economies.

They insisted that the African Development Bank Group can play a key role in assisting African countries with the preparation of bankable projects, risk reduction, infrastructure financing, and mobilising investments needed to develop competitive and sustainable value chains, particularly within the framework of the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD).

As the leading development finance institution in Africa, the African Development Bank Group aims to play a major role in transforming critical minerals in Africa by contributing to large-scale capital mobilisation, identifying priority segments of value chains that can be localised in Africa, and securing national commitments for reforms, infrastructure, and project preparation.

From Data to Detection: How an S&T Industry Day is shaping the future of security screening

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From Data to Detection: How an S&T Industry Day is shaping the future of security screening
  • One of the Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) key mission priorities is to promote lawful travel and trade across air, land, and sea via our ports of entry. A new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), currently in development, will enhance how we work with industry and how we leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to do just that.

S&T is at the forefront of research and development that is driving the next generation of automated, less intrusive, cybersecure, and cost‑effective aviation screening solutions. By enhancing security screening technologies for people, cargo, baggage, and goods at airports and border checkpoints across the country, S&T is directly supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s strategic priorities to modernise and secure the homeland.

Our Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) tests, evaluates, and certifies new technologies and algorithms for nationwide deployment. These efforts rely on high-quality data to transition new technologies from the lab to operational environments. Advancing the security screening landscape requires innovative approaches and robust public-private collaboration, which is why S&T and TSL are establishing the CRADA to encourage the private sector to join forces with us.

Priority: Building compatible, open architecture security systems

S&T is prioritising development of a secure system for data sharing among approved industry partners to enable the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to seamlessly deploy multiple algorithms across different types of screening equipment.

The Screening System Data Sharing Consortium CRADA will allow approved companies to collect, validate, annotate, curate, synthesise, and distribute screening system data to authorised software developers, enabling them to produce robust and reliable threat detection algorithms for Transportation Screening Equipment (TSE). The CRADA will also allow all algorithms produced by software developers to be utilised on all US screening equipment, supporting interoperability and innovation.

TSA is currently developing a cloud-based data repository, the RCA Data Transfer Hub, to house all data collected by screening equipment and algorithm developers. The data consortium is envisioned as a collaborative marketplace connecting algorithm developers, equipment manufacturers, software developers, testing laboratories, synthetic data developers, and front-end users. This will foster innovation and ensure screening solutions meet the needs of more than 450 domestic commercial airports and other screening technology users.

The emergence of ML-enabled algorithms makes the need for such a data consortium even more critical. While the performance potential of these algorithms is widely recognized, TSE vendors struggle to obtain sufficient and diverse data to reliably train their models. The Consortium will enable members to pool large volumes of diverse data—accelerating training, reducing costs, and enhancing the robustness of the resulting algorithms. TSL intends to apply targeted guidelines regarding the type of data shared with third parties, ensuring compliance with classification standards for restricted materials.

“The advantage of bringing industry together is that this problem is too big for one organisation to solve alone. TSL doesn’t have the resources, and individual industry members can’t collect and curate the amount of data they need to train and test their algorithms,” said TSL Director Dr Christopher Smith. “Together, we can manage that process in a way that expedites the delivery of validated technologies to our TSA customer.”

A great deal of thought and feedback went into the development of the CRADA. To ensure it meets the needs of all stakeholders, TSL hosted an industry day earlier this year to gather input that will ultimately help transform the screening landscape.

Priority: Convening government and industry to share aviation security data more effectively

The two-day event drew companies from a variety of sectors, including AI/ML, synthetic data, and security screening equipment manufacturing. Together, they discussed efforts to move towards open architecture and a new approach to evaluate third-party algorithms that can be integrated into screening equipment.

Industry representatives also discussed how to efficiently share large amounts of data, use AI in daily operations, and apply computer-generated (synthetic) data to train algorithms. Bringing together the people and technologies involved in keeping air travel and borders safe led to productive discussions about how industry and government can collaborate to increase automation and reduce the time it takes to develop a TSA-certified screening system.

Priority: Creating a collaborative space for research, development, test, and evaluation

One of the main goals of the industry day was to develop a framework for a data consortium—an agreement among companies that create algorithms, manufacturers of security screening equipment, data‑storage organizations, and the government for how to work together and share data responsibly. Once in place, this consortium will enable members to securely share data in one place, making it easier to support research, testing, and validation of new screening technologies. This shared data hub will help members train and improve their equipment faster, speeding up the development, testing, and deployment of new screening technologies at airports, borders, and event ports of entry. This large‑scale collaboration will help advance the next generation of screening equipment.

The event highlighted the substantial need for vast and comprehensive datasets to train ML-enabled algorithms that can detect potential threats. Because manually collecting the needed training data is impractical, synthetic data was recognised as a vital resource to train not only screening technology, but Transportation Security Officers as well. During the discussions, technical experts in physics, engineering, and computer vision proposed a new process to verify and validate screening technology, ensuring that synthetic data can reliably replicate real-world conditions.

Feedback captured helped clarify how the government intends to structure the consortium moving forward, including developing a practical charter, rules for membership, and operational methods for securely storing, transmitting, and accessing collected datasets.

“It takes a community to drive innovation, which is why S&T and TSL are grateful for all of our industry partners who are taking the next step in advancing the transportation security screening landscape,” Smith said.

The TSL industry day showcased the power of S&T’s strong partnerships to modernise security screening and demonstrated the directorate’s and the department’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technologies to strengthen homeland security.

The detrimental cost of fossil fuel dependence in the Caribbean

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The detrimental cost of fossil fuel dependence in the Caribbean
    • Stabilising the Caribbean’s energy supply by harnessing its wind, solar, geothermal and wave resources is key to stabilising its economies.

By Kory Hall

At the recent 51st CARICOM heads of government conference in July 2026, regional energy stabilisation through the expanded use of renewable energy was a focal topic. Outgoing conference chair, Dr Terrance Drew, prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, called for the urgent acceleration of renewable energy, noting that stabilising the region’s energy supply by harnessing its wind, solar, geothermal and wave resources is key to stabilising its economies.

In this increasingly interconnected world, international actions are sending more intense shock waves rippling to the shores of vulnerable small island developing states. Thousands of miles away from the Caribbean, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices skyrocketing to USD 120 per barrel, its highest level in years. This led to a surge in fuel and food prices. Caribbean countries are highly dependent on imported food and fuel, thus the regional inflation which followed was inevitable. The ongoing Strait of Hormuz tensions demonstrate the ongoing risks to our resilience. We are in an energy crisis, and SIDS are in an especially precarious position.

Closer to home, the climate change hits keep on coming, each time harder and with less time to recover from the previous. In 2024, hurricane Beryl made history as the strongest and earliest forming storm to hit the Atlantic Ocean, wreaking havoc on the Caribbean region and causing USD $995 million in damages in Jamaica alone. Just one year later, the region endured the catastrophic landfall of category 5 hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm to ever hit Jamaica. Supercharged by extraordinarily warmer ocean temperatures (1.4°C warmer than average), the storm intensified at an alarming pace. The World Bank estimated that damage to the country totalled USD 8.8 billion, equivalent to 41 percent of Jamaica’s 2024 GDP. It is clear that strengthening resilience as much as possible to safeguard the region’s citizenry must be a vital regional priority.

As a region, we aren’t responsible for these crises, yet our families pay the price for decisions made by others in grand offices, in metropolitan cities, in other parts of the globe. Each unit of energy that is imported, in whatever form it may take, carries a price that is not only monetary but also an alarming rise in the uncertainties of daily life.

Imagine a food vendor working to make a living on her island. When a war breaks out halfway across the world, global oil markets are disrupted, and her life is thrown into chaos. Her island relies heavily on imported diesel for electricity, so she must now grapple with higher electricity bills, more money at the gas pump to transport her goods and thus increased operational costs. From her small business to the largest groceries, staff may have to be cut and prices must rise. Peter pays for Paul, and Paul pays for all.

So the following must be asked: “Are we happy continuing this cycle?” and “Why are we still dependent on energy from others when we live in one of the most naturally blessed regions in the world?”

The recently released Climate Analytics Caribbean Global Stocktake Pathways Report outlines how the Caribbean can take deliberate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. However, at its core, it asks the more poignant question: “What would it take for the region to rely less on forces beyond its control and assert its developmental destiny?”

Findings show that the Caribbean does indeed have significant renewable energy potential via its solar, wind, and geothermal resources, yet in 2022 only about 12% of electricity was generated by renewables was generated across the region. The report highlights that to achieve cleaner energy systems, committed investment, practical decision-making, the expansion of renewable energy generation, grid modernisation, efficiency and storage must be explored collectively to realise an optimal outcome. It also requires uniting and aligning towards a shared goal of energy independence and advocating for strengthened regional cooperation.

And important lessons can be learned and shared. Islands such as Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and Belize are demonstrating impressive approaches to their renewable energy transition, with ambitious targets and coherent frameworks for investment and development.

In a Caribbean future where governments, communities and businesses all contribute to generating electricity; the return to stability after a weather event is quicker, changing demand does not affect whether the lights stay on, and the average Caribbean national no longer needs to choose between keeping lights on or putting food on the table.

The genesis of the Pathways report may have evolved from the climate change fight, yet in exploring the avenues to an energy transition, the threat of global economic and political instability has reframed the conversation, giving it a new sense of urgency.

This is not a message of doom and gloom, but one of opportunity. The opportunity for the Caribbean to cultivate resources that resist the chaos of global instabilities and instead foster resilience and independence. A solution lies in our nature as tropical isles, with abundant sunshine and wind-endowed coastlines. The abundance of light and wind we receive every day are delivered to us direct to the consumer – in other words, to us -, unrestricted by global conflicts and blocked shipping lanes. Together with the heat beneath our feet, they offer us real, achievable avenues to ease ourselves away from the burden of reliance. There should no longer be any questions of whether the technologies work, but rather whether we are moving quickly enough to capitalise on all the benefits they offer.

Fundamentally, the energy transition in the Caribbean is possible, and achievable pathways lie before us. Our region must harness the tools to limit our vulnerability to crises we did not cause.

Barbados Gin and Cutters

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Barbados Gin and Cutters

By Tony Deyal

When I first went to Barbados to work for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), my wife and I quickly had two children: the young girl, Jasmine, and our son Zubin. In addition to working there and in the Caribbean, I was impressed by the names of some of the communities in Barbados like “Duppies”, “Husbands,” and “Great Head.” In one case I shouted loudly, “Balls! Balls!”

It was not that I was prone to vulgarity, but I was on my way to a cricket match and “Balls” was where I was heading. Actually, it was the name of a plantation in Barbados which eventually became the Barbados Horticultural Society. What I learnt is that Barbadians (or “Bajans”) have their own “version” of language, such as, “You consider any hot beverage to be ‘tea’.” A “cutter” is a salt bread sandwich, not a sharp utensil. You wouldn’t dream of going anywhere at the slightest sign of “rain falling.”  You finish your sentences with the word “dennnnnn.” When it comes to asking a Bajan for directions, they will tell you to “go left” or “take the second right.” They’ll always say, “Just go straight down yonder, pass the shop where the old me liming by the wall, take a right by the tamarind tree where that dog usually bark at you, and if you reach the sea…well you’ve gone too far “dennenn” (often spelled phonetically as “de” or mistaken for “deneen”).

I suppose my initial days in Barbados were my area for the Caribbean. With a wife and two very small children, I had to look after the family and my job. This was the major reason for stopping from drinking. My father had been totally drunk, more so at night, and it made me so upset that even if I took liquor it did not get me drunk. It made no sense, and I stopped completely. This was great for me, my friends, family and “bosses”.

At the same time, in Barbados, I heard about rum and “gin”. Rum was out and “gin” was unknown to me. So after a while I tried to understand what it was and meant. I learnt that Barbados gins are often distilled from the island’s famous sugarcane molasses. While traditional gins have a very sharp, juniper-heavy “pine” flavour, Barbados gins use a vapour or botanical infusion to mellow out the juniper, bringing out sweeter, earthier, and more citrusy tropical flavours. This is what I realised was the key, and I asked a colleague in Barbados whether it was true.  He was certain that the rice was the thing and made it clear, “That’s the key. It is the single most important determining factor for success!”

This was the sugarcane molasses for the famous local “GINS.” It also highlighted the grapefruit, which was actually discovered in Barbados around 1750. The great ones from the start were “Perkins & Sons”, “Blue Light Caribbean Gin and Tonic”, “The Gin Bunch Swizzle”, and “Martinis”, which they said “makes a rich and complex base for a Martini or Negroni.” At the same time, people asked what was a famous quote about “GIN?”

One of the most famous quotes from the start was by Winston Churchill, who was a British statesman and prime minister. He said on “GIN” – “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” One of the other greats, Humper Dogart in Casablanca, said, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” Then there was Richard Brandes comment, “There’s a sort of movement that says that when classics are bypassed, they can become cool again.

That’s what’s happening to gin. It’s part of the whole retro cocktail culture.” Even a lady, Julia Child, when asked for the secret to living to an old age, said, “Red meat and gin.” And from Bernard DeYoto, “The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory: it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived.”

Fortunately, there are the “Gin” puns when the folks, men and women, old and young, raise “fancy glasses” to one another during what they said was, “Letting the evening be-GIN.” This then leads to, “I hope you have a great day!” and responses from the group with, “You’re the gin to my tonic,” “You’re totally gin-gredible,” “Ima-gin all the possibilities,” and “I’m feeling botanically inclined.” For those in the “love” of cocktails, they go with, “Sip happens, enjoy it fully,” “I love water-especially when it’s frozen in cubes and surrounded by GIN,” “When life gives you lemons or limes, wake a gin and tonic,” and “You can’t ima-GIN my life without you.” For those who are going quickly for short one-liners, they start with, “Keep you GIN up,” “Education is important, but GIN is importanter,” “Save water, drink GIN,” “I make gin disappear- what’s your superpower,” and “Don’t cry over split milk…it could be GIN!”

Then there are almost everywhere in many parts, including the Caribbean, with “funny GIN” jokes ready to laugh for days: “Why did the gin and tonic break up? Their relationship was on the rocks. I exercise strong self-control. I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast. Why did the bartender refuse to serve gin to the cat? To prevent it from becoming catatonic. Don’t cry over spilt milk. It could’ve been gin! What’s a gin’s favourite exercise? Stir-ups, and for the road, I love water … particularly when it’s frozen and surrounded by gin.

Then there are some more, starting with, “a bear walked into a bar and said, “I’ll have a gin and … tonic.” The bartender asked, “Why the big pause?” The bear looked down for a second and responded. “I don’t know, I guess I was just born this way.” Then there was a man and his wife at a restaurant, and the husband kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her gin at a nearby table. His wife asked, “Do you know her?” – “Yes,” sighed the husband. “She’s my ex-wife. She took to drinking right after we divorced seven years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.” –  “My God!” said the wife. “Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?”

On that basis, we need to give you an extra since the GINS are still not ahead of the sugarcane molasses. If you’re the kind of person who loves a cheeky cocktail with a side of wordplay, then you’ve just stumbled into gin paradise. Actually, regardless of where you are, whether you’re sipping a G&T on a sun-soaked terrace in London, sharing a tipple at a rooftop bar in New York, or liming in the Caribbean, gin puns are the ultimate icebreaker.

What you have to do is ensure that, regardless of what happens, “Shaken but not Broken. That way you can take another one.”

* Tony Deyal was last seen saying, “ Shaken, not stirred, like life itself.”

United States – Mexico to convene joint review of USMCA

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United States – Mexico to convene joint review of USMCA

WASHINGTON, USA — On July 21, the United States will meet with Mexico in Mexico City for the third bilateral negotiating round related to the Joint Review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Negotiating teams will convene for three days to advance discussions on issues regarding trade in steel and aluminum and derivative products, automobiles, economic security, labor, agriculture, and electronic payment services.

“I thank secretary Ebrard and his team at the Secretariat of Economy for their collaboration over several months to reinforce the US-Mexico bilateral trade and economic relationship,” said ambassador Greer“This work has yielded many successes, including recent progress on issues identified in the 2026 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.I look forward to building on this progress to ensure that the US-Mexico trading relationship benefits US manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, workers, service suppliers, and businesses of all sizes, and closes any loopholes that would allow free-riding by non-Parties.”

Areas of Improvement

Economic Security: In July 2026, Mexico published an updated measure regulating the export of dual-use items that more closely aligns Mexican and US export controls.

Intellectual Property (IP): As noted in the 2026 Special 301 Report, Mexico has taken substantial actions to address significant IP concerns in the areas of pharmaceutical IP, criminal and administrative enforcement, border enforcement, and enforcement against online piracy.

Customs and Trade Facilitation: In May 2026, Mexico introduced an upgrade to its single window system and a new framework to streamline cross-border trade operations. In July 2026, Mexico operationalised its customs broker agency program at all Mexican ports.

Environment: Mexico is taking steps towards addressing the export of avocados grown on illegally deforested land. Mexico is also taking steps to control more effectively the discharge of industrial wastewaters into the Southwestern United States.

Telecommunications Equipment: Mexico made changes to simplify testing requirements, helping to facilitate US telecommunication equipment exports to Mexico.

USTR continues to work constructively with the Secretariat of Economy to address the trade barriers identified in the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.

US lawmakers call on White House to lift ‘Indiscriminate’ sanctions against Venezuela

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US lawmakers call on White House to lift ‘Indiscriminate’ sanctions against Venezuela
    • The Trump administration has only issued a limited waiver and retains control over Venezuela’s oil export revenues.

By Ricardo Vaz

CARACAS, (venezuelanalysis.com) – A group of US Congress members addressed a letter to president Donald Trump advocating an immediate removal of sanctions against Venezuela in the wake of its recent double earthquake.

“These economic restrictions are severely hampering urgent relief efforts, and will continue to threaten Venezuela’s recovery and long-term reconstruction if allowed to remain in place,” the text read.

The missive was signed by 14 representatives from the Democratic Party, including Jesús García, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They cited the United Nations estimates of earthquake damage as high as US $37 billion, roughly a third of Venezuela’s current GDP.

“The existing sanctions regime on Venezuela has far-reaching, indiscriminate effects,” the legislators continued. “The removal of sanctions will allow state institutions to more effectively coordinate and deliver emergency healthcare, shelter and food.”

The letter was backed by a number of NGOs, including Just Foreign Policy, Demand Progress, and Peace Action.

Venezuela was rocked by near-simultaneous 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes on June 24 that caused widespread destruction in north-central regions. The coastal state of La Guaira was the worst hit, with hundreds of collapsed buildings. The latest official death count stands at nearly 5000.

Since 2017, Washington has levied wide-reaching sanctions against Venezuela, targeting key sectors such as banking, mining, trade, and especially the oil industry. Coercive measures against Venezuela’s all-important energy sector have caused revenue losses estimated at more than USD 20 billion per year. The sanctions regime imposed during Trump’s first administration was largely kept in place by the Joe Biden White House.

Venezuela’s GDP contracted by three-quarters between 2014 and 2020, with 88 percent of the contraction taking place under the US economic blockade. In recent days, hundreds of scholars have also demanded the lifting of coercive measures against Venezuela.

Despite pledges of assistance following the devastating tremors, the Trump White House has not entertained any sanctions relief, issuing only a four-month license allowing earthquake relief-related transactions.

However, the US representatives called the measure “entirely insufficient” due to their limited scope and overcompliance from financial institutions.

They urged the Trump administration to “do everything to facilitate Venezuela’s access to its frozen assets abroad.” Venezuelan leaders have called on Washington and its allies to lift sanctions and unfreeze assets for reconstruction efforts. Acting president Delcy Rodríguez penned a letter to UK King Charles III requesting the release of around USD 4.5 billion in Venezuelan gold held by the Bank of England.

The US and European allies are estimated to hold over $10 billion in other assets, including frozen bank accounts and roughly $5 billion in IMF-issued Special Drawing Rights (SDR). In contrast, US offers of post-earthquake humanitarian aid have only totaled $386 million.

Since the January 3 military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has seized control of Venezuelan export revenues, particularly from oil sales. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the acting Rodríguez administration must submit a “budget request” before accessing its own funds.

Trump has repeatedly stated that the US has recouped the costs of the January 3 operation “many times over” from its undisclosed cut taken from Venezuelan oil proceeds. Economist Francisco Rodríguez has found a significant delay in Washington’s disbursement of Venezuelan funds.

The Trump administration also took advantage of the June 24 natural disaster to significantly expand its military footprint in the Caribbean nation. The Southern Command confirmed the presence of more than 900 servicemen on Venezuelan territory by the end of June.

US forces have taken over air traffic coordination, communications, and security operations at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, while two US warships have established a “command-and-control node” at La Guaira port.

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