COVID-19 pandemic will not be the last : WHO

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 Organisation’s chief said, reports AFP from Geneva.

Dr 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 is 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 Dr Tedros. “The pandemic has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and planet,” he added.

“Any efforts to improve human health are doomed unless they address the critical interface between humans and animals, and the existential threat of climate change that’s making our earth less habitable,” he said.