Is the world ready for another pandemic? The answer is no. Despite the fact that the next one could be “just around the corner” and that covid should have been a wake-up call for the world community, much remains to be done.
These are some of the conclusions of two reports prepared by the network of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)the world’s largest disaster response network, on how prepared countries are if another pandemic strikes.
The IFRC warns that throughout history no earthquake, drought or hurricane has claimed more lives than the covid pandemic, which has caused more than 6.5 million deaths worldwide, which has made the humanitarian organization delve into how countries can prepare for another global emergency.
pandemic=inequality
Red Cross and Red Crescent teams have documented how the pandemic exacerbated inequalities. And it is that poor sanitation, overcrowding, lack of access to social and health services and malnutrition “create the conditions for diseases to spread faster and further.”
For these entities, the world must address unequal health and socioeconomic vulnerabilities “long before the next crisis.”
the two documents, the World Disasters Report and the Everybody Counts Reportgive information on the achievements and challenges of the last three years while making a series of recommendations to world leaders on how to mitigate the effects of another pandemic and another tragedy of similar magnitude in the future.
Another pandemic could be right around the corner
The world disaster report 2022 focuses on the coronavirus pandemic and its inadequate preparation, but also on how the world can prepare most effectively.
It ranges from prevention, response and recovery from an emergency like another pandemic, since it maintains that simply being prepared can save lives.
“The next one could be right around the corner: if the COVID-19 experience won’t accelerate our steps towards preparedness, what will?” he argues.
The document emphasizes that the countries were not prepared for the covid, either because they did not have a plan for a public health emergency of this magnitude or because they had cut back their health systems.
suspense of the countries
In this sense, he assures that those who were able to better cope with the pandemic was because they had built resilient health systems and social care networks, in addition, they had learned from previous coronavirus outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), in 2003.
These are countries that obviously also had difficulties coping with it but had a cushion that others did not, according to the report.
“At the time of writing the report, all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks,” the document states. Despite the fact that the pandemic showed the need to be ready, “they are not ready”.
As an example, it indicates that the Global Health Security Index 2021 analyzed 195 countries in six categories of preparedness for health emergencies, including detection, response and social norms. The conclusion was that neither was ready for other pandemics.
Out of 100, no country scored above 80, in fact, the world average was 38.9. “Almost exactly the same” as the last of 2019, indicating that there has been no real improvement in this regard.
Multiple Hazards, Not Just One
The IFRC report also highlights that true preparedness means being ready for multiple hazards, not just one. In this sense, he considers that countries prepare for disease outbreaks but not, for example, for extreme weather events, such as a hurricane.
“Societies can only become resilient by developing disaster frameworks that can handle multiple types of hazards, which can occur simultaneously,” he says.
And you have to prepare now. In 2021 there were 378 disasters, not including disease outbreaks, more than the average for the last 20 years. Much of them, related to the weather.
The entities urge local preparation, prevention, use and optimization of resources. Also to the common protection against socioeconomic impacts, the strengthening of global solidarity mechanisms to guarantee responses to all needs, and the continuous analysis of the situation to reassess at all times, if it is necessary to modify the aid, and take measures.
valuable learning
The coordinator of the Spanish Red Cross, Toni Bruel, assures in a statement that the most valuable learning that has allowed them to overcome this situation is that “many things can be done”: “more than we think we are capable of, which help the others in a simple way and being present everywhere”, he says.
For IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain, the pandemic should be “a wake-up call” for the global community to prepare for the next health crisis.
“Our recommendations to world leaders focus on building trust, addressing inequality, and harnessing local actors and communities to do life-saving work,” Chapagain stresses.