Time to learn lesson from pandemic-WHO chief

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.

“The pandemic has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and planet,” he added. “In the past 12 months, our world has been turned upside-down. The impacts of the pandemic go far beyond the disease itself, with far-reaching consequences for societies and economies,” said Tedros. The UN health agency’s chief said that with investments in public health, “we can ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient and more sustainable world”.