The world largely remains ‘stuck’ with the old systems and tools it had when COVID-19 hit the world in 2019, leaving it unprepared to prevent the next pandemic, experts say.
While there’s been progress on pandemic preparedness efforts – such as recommendations and proposals at next week’s 75th World Health Assembly to increase the World Health Organization’s flexible funding and give it clear authority to report and investigate pandemic threats rapidly – most of these recommendations and proposals are in process, and will take years to be fully realized.
“These processes are very slow, and they don't have a guarantee of success often. At this rate a transformed system, at best, is some years away – which means … that if there were a new pandemic threat this year, next year, or the year after, at least, we will be largely in the same place as we were in December 2019. Maybe worse, given the tight fiscal space of many, if not most countries, right now,” Helen Clark, former co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said in a media briefing on Tuesday.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
