Remember America’s response to Covid-19 the next time someone claims that all you need are technical advisers & evidence to fix your healthcare, education, or other sectors.

The U.S. was in a position to adopt “catch-up” public health measures that were working elsewhere.

Yet a number of factors got in the way:

1) Elite magical thinking trivialized the problem at hand

2) Politicians quickly tried to gain mileage

3) A hopelessly divided public & distrust of govt inhibited quick behavior change.

And above all, most Americans probably thought that “it couldn’t happen here”.

This cognitive block inhibited effective localization of KNOWN remedies that were working elsewhere. It took even grown adults some time to learn how to properly use masks!!!

All to say that “catching up” is never as simple as copying and pasting known solutions.

And yet, at their core, a lot of governments in developing countries and their partners pretend that this is how things work.