By Frank Kamuntu
The global health body, World Health Organisation has warned the world to prepare for the next pandemic, which could be “even deadlier” than the COVID-19 pandemic.
The director-general of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sounded the alarm on Monday, during a meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over.
“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains,” he said.
“And pandemics are far from the only threat we face. In a world of overlapping and converging crises, an effective architecture for health emergency preparedness and response must address emergencies of all kinds.”
The warning comes weeks after the global health body boss declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern.
Ghebreyesus added, “When the next pandemic comes knocking — and it will — we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably.”
“We cannot kick this can down the road,” he said in an address to the WHO member states. “If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?”
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