12 Things We Can Do to Reduce the Risk of Pandemics and Better Prepare the World for Such Events

Pandemics and epidemics have happened and will happen. However, we are lucky because the development of science makes them less destructive. We can react faster, develop vaccines faster, better organize the prevention of spread… Most of the causative agents of diseases that can have the potential for a pandemic come via zoonoses – diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans.

Here are 12 things we can do to reduce the risk of pandemic outbreaks and better prepare the world for such events.

#1 Strengthen public health systems and public health financing

Private clinics and surgeries are one of the healthcare models that can and should exist, as a parallel to the public healthcare system. But healthcare in a normal country cannot rely only on the private system and transfer everything into commercial hands, develop only profitable specializations and practices. So-called “despised practices” such as epidemiology and infectology, with which private practices cannot be opened, are crucial in situations of suppressing the spread of epidemics. It is necessary to encourage medics to these specializations with state scholarships and to provide jobs, and to ensure that the calling of working in public health is attractive to doctors – that it offers existential security, a salary that is more than sufficient and for which they will not have to flee to the private sector, dignity, payment contributions, taxes.

#2 Strengthen the public health insurance system – that all citizens have health care

The currently rampant privatization of healthcare is at the expense of situations such as epidemics. No one is protected if everyone is not protected. If people don’t have health insurance, they won’t see doctors and it’s harder to control the potential spread of disease. If they don’t have insurance, people hide their symptoms, or go through the disease without adequate supervision and help. Unfortunately, precarious work, disrespect for workers’ rights, which even health institutions do to their workers, contribute to this social problem.

#3 Act early and quickly in case of disease

Experts say, early detection of new infectious disease outbreaks and rapid response while the number of cases is small is a key. If the airports had been closed earlier and travel in and out of China had been restricted, perhaps the covid pandemic would have been cut short at an early stage, when there were only tens or hundreds of cases. But the fear of causing panic and the fear of harming trade flows and enrichment took its toll. In a situation of the appearance of something unknown, a better reaction is an excess of caution, rather than giving in. There are proposals for a 7-1-7 global goal: that every single outbreak anywhere in the world be detected within seven days of its occurrence, reported within one day, and control measures implemented within seven days.

#4 Protect nature and biodiversity

Pandemic prevention also means that we need better systems to protect nature. In studies of zoonotic drivers, risk was greatest when human exploitation and habitat destruction threatened wildlife. When we hunt and occupy wildlife’s natural homes or sell wild animals in markets, they experience a lot of stress – making them more likely to become infected and produce more viruses. The biodiversity crisis is a factor that contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, another important thing would be to crack down on fur farms, because weasels and other animals in these torture camps are also potential sources of spillover, as we see from cases of bird flu in such places. Climate changes, they also increase the risk of spillover, as they encourage wild animals to migrate or push them towards human habitations in search of food and water, which increases the risk of contact and transmission. The fight against climate change is part of the story of the fight against pandemics. A reduction in consumerism, which contributes to the spread of monoculture plantations at the expense of wildlife, also plays a role in all of this.

#5 Monitor pathogens in animals

This is neither simple nor cheap, especially when it comes to wild animals, but already monitoring pathogens on farmed animals or pathogens that we already know are in wild species (for example – bird flu virus) has a significant effect.

#6 Monitor the sick

Although new potential pathogens appear in animals and should be monitored, it is much more efficient to monitor sick people, especially if they are at risk of contact with animals – they work with wild animals, on farms of domestic animals or farms of wild animals that are used for the purposes of obtaining fur, live in communities where it is practiced to eat the meat of wild animals (let’s say “bushmeat” – which led to Ebola).

#7 Develop faster and more efficient, easily adaptable vaccine creation technologies

The technology of mRNA vaccines has already shown this – it is adaptable and fast. But it does not have to mean that it is the only one – there are possibilities of developing other methods of creating vaccines.

#8 Develop AI technologies that can help detect molecules that can be drugs or model pandemics

AI could be a good tool in modeling pandemics, predicting the characteristics of pathogens, but also in predicting which molecules can act on the pathogen. This is still a speculative field, but it is worth further research and development of such systems.

#9 Strengthen the communication and competencies of health institutions in communication with the public

We have better tools to deal with infectious diseases than we’ve ever had, but we’re also more vulnerable than we’ve ever been. Partly due to a widespread lack of trust between communities, governments and health care systems. Trust in institutions has never been less, and disinformation more. The presence of corruption in healthcare does not contribute to trust at all. During the pandemic, we have also seen how a number of scientists remain silent “as if watered down”, and some of them spread misinformation.

People from health institutions (emphasizing – Western Balkans health institutions case, but also worldwide) sometimes do not know how to communicate clearly and simply (except for some of the rare examples), which leads to confusion. At the same time, citizens’ health literacy is low, which means that they cannot adequately monitor events because they do not have basic knowledge about what bacteria, parasites, viruses, DNA, PCR, antigen… The situation during the pandemic was a game of dumb phones and scientists often could not simplify the messages as much as the public for whom they were intended needed because they did not even have the basic knowledge to follow them. On the other hand, the lack of communication skills in healthcare organizations was evident. Health institutions do not need self-proclaimed PRs and spokespersons, but serious communicators and psychologists who will review all messages before they are released to the public and correct them. Crisis communication should be part of supplementing the training of people in public institutions. Health institutions do not need self-proclaimed PRs and spokespersons, but serious communicators and psychologists who will review all messages before they are released to the public and correct them. Crisis communication should be part of supplementing the training of people in public institutions. Health institutions do not need self-proclaimed PRs and spokespersons, but serious communicators and psychologists who will review all messages before they are released to the public and correct them. Crisis communication should be part of supplementing the training of people in public institutions. Some of the main rules for crisis communication are – “First, be accurate, be credible, be empathetic, give people practical, proven things they can do to protect themselves, their families (and) their communities”.

#10 Strengthen scientific and health literacy of citizens

The communication channel has two ends. Part of the mistakes in communication happened due to the lack of experience and skills in the institutions, and part was due to the fact that the public did not have prior knowledge about basic matters. Important lessons about vaccines and diseases, basic biology and science should be sine qua non in schools. We need better education for everyone.

# 11 Fight misinformation to fight pandemics

There is a saying that a lie can go halfway around the world before the truth even gets its boots on.

The KFF poll showed over a quarter of participants also believed the Covid vaccines have been proven to cause infertility – despite no evidence the Covid shot impacts male or female fertility.

Pandemic misinformation can affect people’s motivations, beliefs, and decision-making regarding their health, politics, the environment, and more. Part of this fight is the detection and debunking of misinformation, and part of prebunking – immunization against misinformation, learning about logical fallacies, strengthening scientific and health literacy and critical thinking.

# 12 Strengthen international cooperation and communication between disease monitoring centers in different countries

It must not happen that one country hides data from others and from the World Health Organization. The flow of information is crucial, but the politicization of such situations, unfortunately, takes precedence.