Monitoring body says world not ready for next pandemic
GENEVA - The world remains ill-prepared for a possible new health crisis or pandemic, reported German Press Agency (dpa) based on an independent global preparedness analysis published on Monday.
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) which assesses the state of the world's preparedness for pandemics and other health emergencies has warned that the world's capacity to deal with a potential new pandemic threat remains inadequate, in their report.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank set up the GPMB in 2018 in response to a deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The observatory aims to analyse preparations around the world and make recommendations.
Some work was done in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, it notes, but some countries have scaled back their preparations to respond quickly to similar crises and there has been little progress in others.
The organisation made several suggestions to improve crisis preparedness worldwide. Countries must strengthen their surveillance to be able to detect new diseases at an early stage, the report says. Data collection and analytical capacity must be improved.
Poorer countries need financial support and debt deferral in order to be able to provide resources. A planned fund of US$10 billion for pandemic prevention and preparedness must be financed urgently, the board said.
Research and development of new drugs should not be concentrated in a few countries, as was the case with the Covid-19 pandemic. Civil society must be better involved in all preparations. The organisation's co-chair, former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, said a lack of trust between countries and between citizens and authorities makes good pandemic preparedness difficult.
"We call on leaders to move past these divisions and forge a new path based on a shared recognition that our future safety depends on meaningful reform and the highest level of political commitment to health emergency preparedness," Grabar-Kitarović said. - BERNAMA-dpa
