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What should Indonesia do to better respond to next pandemic?
Despite the 10-year implementation of the International Health Regulations, the world is still not yet ready to deal with a pandemic
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World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wears a protective face mask as he attends a WHO executive board special session on the COVID-19 response at the health agency's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 5, 2020. (AFP/World Health Organization /Christopher Black)
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ore than 5 million people have died worldwide since a novel coronavirus epidemic broke out two years ago in Wuhan, China. The virus spread rapidly around the world, placing an enormous burden on healthcare systems.
More children are at a greater risk of infectious diseases as the pandemic has disrupted the delivery of healthcare services, including routine immunization programs. The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has forced millions of people to lose their jobs and live in poverty.
The pandemic has opened our eyes to significant weaknesses in our society in responding to a health emergency. Healthcare systems were not ready to handle the coronavirus outbreak. This pandemic has shown that unpreparedness for a medical surge can impact various aspects of people’s lives that go beyond health matters.
As COVID-19 may not be the world’s last health emergency, the question now is: Are we ready to face the next pandemic?
A surge in COVID-19 cases in some countries and the recent confirmation of new Variant of Concern (VOC) Omicron by the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution give us evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over. A lack of solidarity among nations has been blamed for this prolonged virus crisis, which was worsened by ineffective global health architecture.
During the Group of 20 Summit in Italy on Oct. 30, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo conveyed the strong message that to better deal with future emergencies, the world needed to reorganize the global health architecture. Jokowi first made this call during the United Nations General Assembly in September.
It is now expected that the special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), now underway until Thursday, can serve as a starting point for countries to build a stronger global framework to prevent future health emergencies.
