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Are we prepared for the next pandemic?

Although nobody knows when the next pandemic will happen, the mistakes and lessons learned from COVID-19 should be a guiding force in helping us prepare for a similar situation in the future.

Despite the fact that most of us have collectively blocked the year of 2020 from our minds, the COVID-19 pandemic will be forever remembered as one of the largest crises of modern history.

Coronavirus was the first rapidly spreading, globally infectious disease that humanity had seen in almost a century – and to say we were wildly unprepared for it would be an understatement.

Sure, vaccines were prepared in record timing in order for society to move on and function as normal. But as they were prepared, many lost their lives despite the fact that we stayed locked in our homes in order to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable for the better part of a year.

At the recent annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the World Health Organization (WHO) asked global leaders to confront the prospect of a new global pandemic in the future.

This is a ritual that began as early as 2015, when the WHO and its member organisations outwardly acknowledged the lack of international readiness for significant disease outbreaks.

Looking to rectify this, they initiated a plan known as the R&D Blueprint for Action to Prevent Epidemics, identifying a list of existing pathogens that warranted serious concern.

 

At a meeting in February of 2018, the committee added a new specimen to their list of potential threats: Disease X.

The purpose of thinking about this hypothetical disease was to motivate authorities to be adaptable in their preparations, without framing the measures within the constraints of already well-known diseases.

Fast forward two years, and we all know what happened. The novel coronavirus put these preparations – or lack thereof – to the test. Around 7 million people died, a result of sluggish preventive measures and rapid vaccine development—a figure that could have been both far better and far worse.

Even as COVID-19 ravaged the globe, the list of priority pathogens underwent renewed scrutiny. In 2022, hundreds of scientists banded together to evaluate evidence related to 25 known microbial families, attempting to understand the potential threats posed by future outbreaks.

During consultations with representatives from various nations, the WHO delved into matters of discovery, surveillance, research, and the challenges inherent in pre-empting an future unknown pathogen.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus assured that these kinds of measures were already underway, including the establishment of a global pandemic fund and the creation of a technology transfer hub to address vaccine distribution inequities.

‘Some argue this may induce panic. However, it’s prudent to anticipate potential threats, as history has demonstrated time and again, and prepare accordingly,’ said the WHO Director-General.

To manage a future pandemic, stronger public communication strategies must be put in place to combat misinformation.

Strengthening economic and mental health plans for potential quarantines, fostering flexibility in education systems, and fortifying healthcare infrastructure are also vital to ensuring we are more prepared to deal with future disease.

The lesson is clear: we don’t need to understand what exactly ‘Disease X’ is in order to start preparing for it – we just need to learn from the past and improve those systems for the future.

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