Infectious diseases present ‘clear, present danger’ everywhere: UN

Geneva: COVID-19 continues to demonstrate how quickly “an infectious disease can sweep across the world”, pushing health systems to the brink and upending daily life for all of humanity, the UN chief said on Monday, marking the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.

“It also revealed our failure to learn the lessons of recent health emergencies like SARS, avian influenza, Zika, Ebola and others”, secretary-general António Guterres said in his message.

“And it reminded us that the world remains woefully unprepared to stop localized outbreaks from spilling across borders, and spiraling into a global pandemic”.

Halting infectious diseases

Noting that infectious diseases remain “a clear and present danger to every country”, Mr Guterres maintained COVID-19 would not be the last pandemic for humanity.

Even as the world responds to this health crisis, he spelled out the need to prepare for the next one.

“This means scaling-up investments in better monitoring, early detection and rapid response plans in every country — especially the most vulnerable”, he said.

“It means strengthening primary health care at the local level to prevent collapse… ensuring equitable access to lifesaving interventions, like vaccines for all people and… achieving Universal Health Coverage.”

The secretary-general upheld that by building global solidarity, every country would have a fighting chance “to stop infectious diseases in their tracks”.

Earlier in the month, the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the decision of a special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) – the UN agency’s top decision-making body – to develop a new global accord on pandemic prevention and response.

While acknowledging a long road ahead, he described the decision as “cause for celebration, and cause for hope”.