Microbes Saving Lives and Reducing Suffering

Given the overexploitation of the resources of planet Earth, due in large part to the ever-increasing human population (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/), which has already compromised vital planetary processes (https://reports.weforum.org/docs/ WEF_ Business_on_the_ Edge_ 2024.pdf), the limitations of which are encapsulated in planetary boundaries (Richardson et al. 2023; Guptaet al. 2024; https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/earth -exceed-safe-limit s-first-planetary-healt h-check-issue s-red-alert) and climate tipping points (Wunderling et al. 2023; Wunderling, von der Heydt, and Aksenov 2024), it would not be unexpected that a visitor from Mars might well be confused,or at least bemused, by our efforts to save lives and reduce mor-bidity. The Martian might be similarly bemused when it learned that although warfare is a constant feature of biosphere ecology, including human behaviour, with military personnel of opposing armies doing their best to kill one another, military physicians will try their best to save the lives of injured prisoners of the opposing side. But warfare and other activities of individuals and groups aimed at harming others notwithstanding, saving lives and preventing/reducing human suffering is an ingrained moral-ethical-humanitarian imperative (https://www. ohchr. org/sites/default/files/Documents/ Publications/Factsheet31.pdf). While we cannot prevent death, we try hard to prevent avoidable, premature death and disease. But trying hard is not the same as succeeding (Kruk et al. 2018). This is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, which identifies major deficits in global healthcare and provides a roadmap to correct these deficits (https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda).