Coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, says World Health Organization’s chief
- We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one,’ said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
- Tedros said all countries should invest in preparedness capacities to prevent, detect and mitigate emergencies of all kinds
The coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, and attempts to improve human health are “doomed” without tackling climate change and animal welfare, the World Health Organization’s chief said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also condemned the “dangerously short-sighted” cycle of throwing cash at outbreaks but doing nothing to prepare for the next one, in a video message marking Sunday’s first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.
The WHO director general said it was time to learn the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For too long, the world has operated on a cycle of panic and neglect,” he said.
“We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one. This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand.”
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board’s September 2019 first annual report on world readiness for health emergencies – published a few months before the novel coronavirus broke out – said the planet was woefully unprepared for potentially devastating pandemics.
“History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life,” said Tedros.
