1. We need to invest in research and preparation
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled a list of diseases that need to be prioritized for future research, called the R&D Blueprint. One of the diseases that were mentioned on that list was listed as “Disease X”, therefore, the WHO anticipated the occurrence of a new and unknown illness.
They listed the yet-to-be-discovered disease just because they wanted to demonstrate that there are many illnesses and viruses out there that we know nothing about, but research organizations should be prepared for everything, even though they might not know exactly what it is. CLICK HERE to read more about 11 of the Most Deadly Diseases in History.
According to the WHO, “‘Disease X’ represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.”
“The R&D Blueprint explicitly seeks to enable early cross-cutting R&D [research and development] preparedness that is also relevant for an unknown ‘Disease X.’”
Additionally, according to Global Citizen, over time we had many examples of then-unknown diseases humans were forced to deal with in the past. For instance, it’s worth mentioning Smallpox in 1520, the Great Plague in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish Flu in 1918, and Ebola which first appeared in 1976, but only caused a pandemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.
And these are just a few of the pandemic humans had to deal with in the past. Here’s What You Need to Know About Coronavirus Mutations.
In order to avoid future pandemics from happening again, we need to develop more surveillance systems for gathering data and forecasting epidemics. The World Health Organization already has these kinds of systems, and this is a topic highly discussed by scientists all over the world, as they want to find out how they can make data collecting easier and more effective after COVID-19.
According to what Dr. Barbara Rath, a pediatrician, and infectious disease specialist, told Global Citizen, “We need to invest in surveillance programs to learn more about viruses that develop in animals and transmit to humans.”
Additionally, we need surveillance systems all over the world, because a pandemic can occur anywhere on this globe.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is another organization whose purpose is to help us be better prepared for future pandemics, and it’s working at the moment to create a COVID-19 vaccine available for mass-use. CEPI has demonstrated this year that many things can be achieved through collaboration. They signed nine partnerships in 2020 with other organizations and R&D businesses to find a vaccine.
Why Men Are More Likely to Die From COVID-19 Than Women? CLICK HERE to find out!
