The world’s health is under threat: 25 leaders of change are trying to stop it.

State of Affairs in the Global Humanitarian Sector

According to Vox: When we launched the Vox section "Future Perfect" in 2018, we asked ourselves: "What topics would we write about if our goal was to highlight the most important issues in the world, especially those that remain overlooked?"

Since then, our questions have evolved. We began to focus on issues of existential risks related to artificial intelligence, as well as challenges associated with ethical practices. Over the past three years, we have recognized the most influential figures in these areas in our annual Future Perfect 50 lists.

However, in preparing a new list for 2025, we realized it was time to return to basics. The main problem in our field remains the pressures on foreign aid and global health, which threaten to undo many of humanity's most significant achievements.

Reduced Efforts in Global Aid

Global aid is declining despite rising needs. For instance, cuts to USAID funding in the U.S. only worsen the situation. This leads to limited access to food, reduced clinic operations, and disruption of supply chains.

Routine childhood vaccinations — one of the most effective achievements in healthcare — are at the brink, leaving over 14 million children without necessary protection. In 2023, there were about 263 million cases of malaria and 597 thousand deaths, most of which occur in Africa and among children. Conflicts, global climate change, and economic interests hinder the development of new solutions. Even polio, a disease the world was close to eradicating, risks returning due to a 30% budget cut for the eradication program in 2026, along with underfunding until 2029.

In light of all this, it can be tempting to fall into despair, but while we may never return to an era of more generous aid, we can use this moment to focus on what works best.

Defining the Future of Global Health

In our Future Perfect 25 list for 2025, we chose 25 individuals who are innovatively approaching the support of progress in global health and development across four main categories.

• Innovators who reduce costs. When budgets are tight, engineering must lead: from artificial intelligence in drug discovery, to new vaccines that allow for expanded cold chains, and strengthened crops that can offer calories in the context of global warming and hunger.
• Actors who overcome pressure on institutions. These are leaders who effectively use limited finances to protect vital but unseen elements such as supply in the most remote countries, medical surveillance for early detection of outbreaks, and maintenance that ensures the stability of basic infrastructure.
• Field Workers. People in communities connect intentions to reality: mothers at prenatal check-ups, achieving zero child mortality goals, restoring basic mental health services, adhering to environmental standards.
• Thinkers who analyze how to achieve the greatest results with the least expenditure. They challenge traditional notions with data, understand implications, and find effective solutions to improve the health and well-being of individuals with maximal benefits. They respond to a crucial question: how to improve quality of life for every dollar spent?

Alongside the list, we also prepared several in-depth investigations into the main issues and solutions in global health — from the critical need for trained midwives in resource-limited countries, to the unstable role of India as the "pharmacy of the world" and new ways to prevent hunger.

Future Perfect 25 is not just nostalgia for more generous times. It is our response to the question we asked at the outset: what are the most important works in the world that have gone unnoticed? These 25 men and women embody the core values of Future Perfect and the most urgent needs of today.

The Future of Global Health is at Risk. These 7 Innovators Can Revolutionize It.

Let’s meet the Future Perfect 25: Innovators.

Authors: Izzie Ramirez, Sigal Samuel, Pratik Pawar, Shayna Korol, and Paige Vega

Free Cancer Treatment for Everyone — and Five Other Ideas to Change Global Health

Let’s meet the Future Perfect 25: Actors.

Authors: Izzie Ramirez, Sara Herschander, Sigal Samuel, and Shayna Korol

How 6 Organizers Create Effective Solutions for Global Health from the Ground Up

Let’s meet the Future Perfect 25: Field Workers.

Authors: Bryan Walsh, Marina Bolotnikova, Kenny Torrella, Shayna Korol, and Pratik Pawar

6 Great Minds Transforming Foreign Aid, Masculinity, and Development

Let’s meet the Future Perfect 25: Thinkers.

Authors: Izzie Ramirez, Sara Herschander, Kenny Torrella, Marina Bolotnikova, and Bryan Walsh

How to Deliver a Baby Without Equipment

These women save countless lives every year. We need more of them.

Author: Sara Herschander

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry Saved the World Before. Can It Do It Again?

The "pharmacy of the world" needs to reinvent itself.

Author: Pratik Pawar

You Can Prevent Child Hunger for Less Than $100

Fighting hunger may seem impossible. But with new innovations, it has never been so affordable.

Author: Sigal Samuel

Acknowledgments

Edito: Bryan Walsh

Project Manager: Izzie Ramirez

Editors: Marina Bolotnikova, Izzie Ramirez, Paige Vega, and Bryan Walsh

Proofreading and fact-checking: Kim Slotterback, Isabelle Lichtenstein, Esther Gim, and Sarah Schweppe

Authors: Marina Bolotnikova, Sara Herschander, Shayna Korol, Pratik Pawar, Izzie Ramirez, Sigal Samuel, Kenny Torrella, Paige Vega, and Bryan Walsh

Art Director: Paige Vickers

Illustrators: Michael Hoeweler, Nicole Rifkin, Mar Hernández, and Claire Merchlinsky

Team: Sydney Bergan, Gabby Fernandez, Bill Carey, and Kelsi Trinidad

Special Thanks: Bill Carey, Nisha Chittal, Swati Sharma, Elbert Ventura