The Red Cross warned against “dangerous lack of preparation” of the world to face a next pandemic. Three years after the outbreak of the “brutal” Covid-19, the organization considered that the disease caused by the coronavirus that paralyzed the world should serve as a “wake-up call” for the future.
So arranged the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), the humanitarian network present in almost the entire world, in the two reports that detail recommendations for the international community not only in health but also in socioeconomic matters, considering that health crises have an impact on inequality.
“The Covid-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for the global community to prepare now for the next health crisis”said the IFRC general secretary, Jagan Chapagainwithin the framework of the third anniversary of the declaration of the coronavirus as a global health emergency according to the United Nations (UN).
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Meanwhile, the head of the humanitarian organization assured that the next pandemic “could be just around the corner”, and urged governments to take action to mitigate future damage, which includes building networks of trust, equity and action. local, three fundamental aspects to “prepare for the next crisis”. “The next pandemic could be right around the corner; if the experience of Covid-19 will not accelerate our steps towards preparedness, what will?“, he mused.
Red Cross reports
This Monday, the IFRC issued two reports with recommendations to mitigate “future tragedies” of the magnitude of Covid-19, which paralyzed the world in 2020 and for which countries are “dangerously unprepared”, almost as much as in 2019 when the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic was brewing.
In the publications, called World Disasters Report y Each and every one matters, Red Cross evaluated the progress of recent years and highlighted the challenges of managing the pandemic. In this sense, he indicated that countries must be prepared for “multiple hazards, not just one“, and urged countries to direct efforts towards a planning for different types of disasters as they can “occur simultaneously“.
As an example, the organization cited the increase in disasters related to extreme weather events, “increasingly frequent and intense”, and the waves of disease outbreaks of this century, of which Covid-19 was only one. “Our ability to simply responder to them is limited“, they assured from the institution.
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Reduce inequality and build trust
On the other hand, the report emphasized the main victims of this scenario, “the most vulnerable”, and pointed out that leaving the lowest levels of society exposed ends up being “counterproductive”, considering that poor access to health, overcrowding, malnutrition and lack of access to health and social services “create conditions for diseases to thrive”, something that was seen with the coronavirus pandemic.
“The world must address unequal health and socioeconomic vulnerabilities well in advance of the next crisis,” he recommended. He also noted the need to network with local communities to do life-saving work, as that is where “pandemics begin and end.”
Likewise, the Red Cross highlighted the importance of generating confidence between governments and populations, to comply with public health measures, including the vaccination. Meanwhile, he indicated that those who responded to the crisis “cannot wait until the next time to build trust” but must cultivate it over time, in order to preserve public health and prevent it from becoming “politicized and individualized.”
Lastly, it recommended that by 2025, countries should allocate one percent of GDP to health, while investment at the level of international organizations should be at least $15 billion dollars per year.
CD / ED
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