March 06, 2024
The worst of the Covid pandemic is behind us. But after three-quarters of a billion (reported) cases, 20 million deaths and uncounted trillions of dollars in lost income, it is hardly time to declare victory and go back to denying the almost inevitable. Indeed, it is surely time to start preparing for the next pandemic – and, in particular, to start tackling the problem of detecting disease outbreaks earlier in order to minimize their impact. Disease surveillance is at the heart of any good public health system.
A disease surveillance system is really no different than a weather forecasting system. And it seems clear that such a system should be funded at least at the scale of the National Weather Service (to the tune of about a billion dollars annually), or even surpass it.
In his latest article from Milken Review, OHT’s President and Founder Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan shares his insights on enhancing disease surveillance and minimizing global health risks using captivating case studies from around the globe. Read it here.