Preparedness

Latest

Governance
A health worker in protective gear walks inside a Red Cross facility in the town of Koidu, in Sierra Leone, on December 19, 2014.

Mpox Surge in Sierra Leone: A Stress Test for National Readiness

by Mohamed Bella Jalloh, Mamadu Baldeh

Epidemics have a habit of revealing whether the last crisis was truly instructive or merely traumatic

Migration
Migrants gather between primary and secondary border fences as the United States prepares to lift COVID-19 era Title 42 restrictions, near San Diego, California, on May 10, 2023.

Pandemic Responses Should Not Rely on Border Closures

by Edward Alden

Lessons learned from COVID-19 should inform future public health responses

A member of medical staff attends to residents as they queue during screening and testing campaign aimed to combat the spread of COVID-19, in Lenasia, South Africa, on April 21, 2020.
Governance

Lessons From Africa for Future-Proofing Global Health

by Paul Adepoju

Africa's response to COVID-19 provides valuable insight for organizations seeking to make meaningful change

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Belgium's Minister of Development Cooperation Meryame Kitir visit a WHO-backed mRNA vaccine hub, in Cape Town, South Africa, February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Shelley Christians
Governance

Strengthening Epidemic Preparedness at the Country Level

by Tom Frieden, Yuexuan Chen, Janneth Mghamba, Mohammed Lamorde

Health security approaches and challenges

a man wearing a white tank top self-administers an oral cholera vaccine
Governance

Five Conditions for Success in Public Health

by Tom Frieden

What improving public health requires

Beds at a temporary field hospital set up in a sports complex by Medicines Sans Frontieres during the coronavirus outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa, on July 21, 2020. The photo shows a large gymnasium with lots of beds in rows. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
Poverty

Health-Systems Strengthening in the Age of COVID-19

by Angela E. Micah, Katherine Leach-Kemon, Joseph L. Dieleman

As the pandemic stresses many health-systems to their breaking point, it’s more important than ever to bolster them now

Bird's eye view: visitors take in a panoramic scene of the city of Toronto, Canada, from the 553 meters (1815 feet) high CN Tower, which just reopened after coronavirus restrictions on July 15, 2020. The photo shows a woman wearing a mask looking out from the skyview of the tall building with the Toronto cityscape beneath her. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
Aging

Coronavirus in Toronto—Lessons Lost on a Second SARS

by Allison Daniel

The city's COVID-19 response is strongly informed by the experience of the earlier outbreak—but by no means exceptional

Argentine canoeist Sebastian Rossi trains in his girlfriend's pool, due to the coronavirus outbreak, as he prepares for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, in Buenos Aires, Argentina June 8, 2020. The photo shows the canoeist rowing furiously in a swimming pool. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
Poverty

Argentina's Quarantine—The Long View

by Carlos Javier Regazzoni

To build on the country's early success against COVID-19, we should envision an overall Latin American pandemic response

Monica Samudio, 46, whose husband Jorge Garcia, 51, died from coronavirus looks out of her window in Mexico City on April 29, 2020. Samudio faced discrimination when she contracted the disease. Picture shows the woman looking out her window and partially reflected in the glass. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
Governance

Estimating the Latin Wave of Coronavirus

by Rafael Lozano

Projections show potential impact of COVID-19 on Latin America—Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador among the hardest hit

New cars are seen lined up next to the dock as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, at the Port of Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 29, 2020. The photo is an aerial shot of a large lot packed completely with lines of cars. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Migration

Avoiding Another COVID-19 Surge in the United States

by Ali H. Mokdad

Keeping tabs on movement, infections, and testing are crucial to containing the virus

A formation of the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds fly past the Washington Monument as a salute to first responders and essential personnel during the coronavirus pandemic on May 2, 2020. The photo shows two tight formations of several jets flying by the Washington monument on a brilliant blue sky day. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Governance

Public Health is Always Political

by Travis Bias

U.S. pandemic responses are human endeavors led by governments put in place by the people through political processes

The bar chart shows sources of pandemic preparedness spending, organizations and countries
Governance

Funding Pandemic Preparedness: A Global Public Good

by Hayley Stutzman, Angela E. Micah, Joseph L. Dieleman

Pandemics in a globalized world require global responses. We must be better equipped and funded.

Medical staff pose for a portrait in a combination of photos at Harborview Medical Center during the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in Seattle, Washington on April 8, 2020. Picture is a composite photo with a grid of health care workers wearing scrubs. A few are wearing masks. REUTERS/David Ryder
Food

COVID-19: This Crisis Should Make Us Stronger

by Ali H. Mokdad

As efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 succeed, those who are better off must help the most vulnerable

Normally bustling tourist mecca Bourbon Street lies deserted in the early afternoon during shelter in place orders to slow the spread of coronavirus in a photograph of New Orleans on March 27, 2020. The photo shows a view of the entrance to Bourbon street, which would normally be packed with tourists and other people, almost completely empty. REUTERS/Drone Base
Governance

Preparing for the COVID-19 Surge in the United States

by Ali H. Mokdad

States such as Louisiana, New York, Michigan, and North Carolina are likely to be among the hardest hit