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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
Image Credit: AP
Geneva: World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday called on countries to invest more in their public health systems to better prepare the world for future epidemics and pandemics.
“History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life,” Ghebreyesus said in his message as the world marks the first International Epidemic Preparedness Day on Sunday.
“But with investments in public health, backed by a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to health, we can ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient and more sustainable world,” the WHO said the chief.
The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the need to invest in systems to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
The first International Epidemic Preparedness Day was convened by the United Nations General Assembly to uphold the importance of prevention, preparedness and partnership against epidemics.
“As Covid-19 has killed more than 1.7 million people, devastated economies, disrupted societies, and exposed the world’s vulnerabilities in the starkest ways, the value of health emergency preparedness has come home like never before. before, “said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“As we strive to control and recover from the current pandemic, we must think about the next. Unfortunately, it is easy to imagine such an infectious but even more deadly virus.”
International Epidemic Preparedness Day falls on the birthday of Louis Pasteur, the French biologist responsible for pioneering work on vaccines.
“Preparedness is a solid investment, costing much less than emergency spending. Societies need stronger health systems, including universal health coverage. Individuals and families need more social protection,” said the Secretary-General of the ONU.
“Communities on the front line need timely support. Countries need more effective technical cooperation. And we must pay greater attention to the invasion of people and livestock into animal habitats; 75% of new and emerging human infectious diseases are zoonotic, “he said. .
