The UN Doesn’t Get Credit for the Lives It Saves

Mark Hannah | Sep 23, 2025

Diplomats toil behind closed doors to prevent global crises. But when prevention works, nobody notices.

By Mark Hannah, Chief Executive Officer

This article appeared in US News on September 23, 2025

Presidential motorcades are rolling through midtown Manhattan this week in the annual pilgrimage of world leaders to the United Nations General Assembly. Some Americans may catch a headline or a clip from a speech before they turn their attention back to the price of groceries, a prescription refill or their commute home.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres kicked off the gathering of global leaders today by raising an alarm about “reckless disruption and relentless human suffering” and urging members to cooperate and embrace international law and peace instead of chaos and conflict.

World leaders this week will debate how to regulate artificial intelligence, how to prepare for future pandemics and how to finance the reduction of greenhouse gases, issues that will determine the future of education and work, whether deadly diseases can be kept at bay and whether food is affordable and the climate is liveable. Unfortunately, leaders discuss these issues in language so abstract and in forums so remote that many people have no idea what’s happening or why it matters.

…