Respond to next pandemic now

THE response to the next pandemic must start now. The work to strengthen the response by the world to the next pandemic can’t wait until it hits.

Global health experts refer to Pathogen X as the cause of the next pandemic.

We failed to understand the economic impact of the country’s mitigation strategy.

In response, several countries failed to recognise the lack of trust in Western medicine.

We must do a lot more work on culture, mental health, trauma and gender-based violence.

Environmental surveillance will also be crucial as Pathogen X might be the consequence of climate change or a cross-species jump.

There is need for countries to improve hospital records and for a unique identifier system that will allow access to patients’ records.

We need astute hospital records.

A new pandemic treaty is needed as current legal instruments guiding a global health response are too cumbersome.

Legal instruments available to the World Health Organisation in 2020 called for steps to be created, as well as consultation and verification.

A viral pathogen that moves so fast can’t wait for this process.

In the last pandemic, there was delayed movement. Some countries were swift. Some were tardy. Some undervalued health workers. Some played wait and see. The virus didn’t wait. The virus just ravaged.

The countries that had done better had engaged communities, and made solid investments in their health workforce.

You don’t invest in the health workforce during an outbreak. You invest during peacetime. We have pushed for a pandemic treaty that will hold countries accountable.

Other factors that plagued a successful response to the pandemic included glaring inequities in the distribution of vaccines.

On the positive side, research and development continued at an unprecedented pace as the world battled COVID-19, and the creation of digital platforms have provided something positive to build on for the future.