The question is not whether or not there will be a next pandemic, but when it will happen. This was warned this week by Tedros Adhanom, director of the World Health Organization (WHO), during his speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai; and he added that the world is not prepared so if we do not learn all the lessons we have pending, “next time we will pay dearly“.
Adhanom Adhanom had made similar warnings before. On February 12, 2018, in front of the microphone, he warned that the world was not prepared for a pandemic and expressed concern that one could occur at any time. Less than two years later, in December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic occurred. COVID-19; and, indeed, we were not ready to react, according to the director.
“The world is not yet ready for a pandemic”
“I stand before you today, post-COVID-19, with millions of people dead and social, economic and political upheavals that reverberate to this day. Although some progress has been made, the world is not yet prepared for a pandemic“Adhanom pronounced, convinced that sooner or later, another one will come.
Tedros Adhanom, director of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The question about the new pandemic is when it will happen
The director of the WHO was accurate in stating that there will be a next pandemic: “History teaches us that it is a question not of if it will happen, but when it will happen”, the problem he finds is that we run the risk of repeating the same cycle than with COVID-19 and said that if it came tomorrow, we would face many of the same problems we faced then.
“The painful lessons we learned are in danger of being forgotten. But if we don’t learn them, we will pay dearly next time. And there will be a next time. “History teaches us that the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if,” Adhanom continued.
“Next time we will pay dearly; and there will be a next time”
This new pandemic can be caused by an influenza virus (flu), by a new coronavirus or by a new pathogen that we do not even know yet, according to the WHO. In any of the three cases, that future cause is what we call Disease.
The term Disease X is not something new. The WHO first used it in 2018 as a placeholder for a disease we don’t know yetbut for which states can nevertheless prepare.
In fact, COVID-19 was Disease X: a new pathogen causing a new disease. “But there will be another Disease X, or Disease Y or Disease Z. And as things stand, the world remains unprepared for the next Disease
The goal of the WHO: an international agreement
In December 2021, WHO Member States met in Geneva and agreed to develop a international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response, a legally binding pact that established cooperation. Countries set the World Health Assembly (in May this year) as the deadline to complete the agreement.
Currently, there are still some issues on which countries have not reached consensus and, in addition, some of the signatory parties have expressed their fear of losing sovereignty and ceding it to the WHO. Given this, Adhanom assured that this fear is unfounded.