A medical study has concluded the world is collectively “grossly under-prepared” for future disease outbreaks.
In recent years, there has been global panic-inducing disease outbreaks. From Ebola to Zika, fortunately none were quite as bad or far-reaching as predicted. But the reaction to those outbreaks has shown that health officials may be dramatically unprepared for the next epidemic.
The researchers analyzed seven reports from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa where the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency following the disease’s rapid spread with the outbreak leading to the deaths of at least 11,000 people.
The research team said in a press release that the world will not be ready for the next outbreak without deeper and more comprehensive changes. That recent outbreaks demonstrated there is not yet a reliable or robust global system for preventing, detecting and responding to disease outbreaks.