The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), which tracks and monitors global pandemic preparedness, launched its annual report today.
“Outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 in cattle and its spillover to humans, and a new strain of mpox in Central Africa are the most recent signals of concern,” the report begins. “The high likelihood that they will spread further should be a wake-up call for the global community.”
The report outlines 15 key drivers of pandemic risk, categorized as social, technological, environmental, economic, and political. Despite an interconnectedness among the scientific community, the report says distrust in governments at home and abroad threatens global health.
Renewing trust in public health and science is of the utmost importance before a future pandemic, the report said. Also emphasized is that the next pandemic will likely not be similar to COVIV-19.
There is a risk that focusing solely on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic could result in preparing for the last battle rather than the next one.
“There is a risk that focusing solely on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic could result in preparing for the last battle rather than the next one,” the report says.
Threat of tropical diseases
Overall, the report said countries will need to adopt a One Health approach as the animal-to-human interface will be the likely source of the next pandemic.
“Places that have a dense human-animal-environment interface and are undergoing rapid change are ripe to become new hotspots of emergence of novel diseases with epidemic potential,” the authors wrote. “Soon temperate countries may see outbreaks of diseases that are usually seen in tropical areas, such as epidemics transmitted by mosquitoes, including dengue or yellow fever.”
The report also noted the ongoing outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the polio detection in Gaza to highlight how political instability can have major public health consequences.
