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Agence France-Presse

The coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, and attempts to improve human health are “doomed” without tackling climate change and animal welfare, the World Health Organization’s chief said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also condemned the “dangerously short-sighted” cycle of throwing cash at outbreaks but doing nothing to prepare for the next one, in a video message marking Sunday’s first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.
The WHO director general said it was time to learn the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For too long, the world has operated on a cycle of panic and neglect,” he said.
“We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one. This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand.”
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board’s September 2019 first annual report on world readiness for health emergencies – published a few months before the novel coronavirus broke out – said the planet was woefully unprepared for potentially devastating pandemics.
“History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life,” said Tedros.
“The pandemic has highlighted the intimate links between the health of humans, animals and planet,” he added.
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“Any efforts to improve human health are doomed unless they address the critical interface between humans and animals, and the existential threat of climate change that is making our earth less habitable,” he said.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1.75 million people and nearly 80 million cases have been recorded since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by Agence France-Presse.
“In the past 12 months, our world has been turned upside down. The impacts of the pandemic go far beyond the disease itself, with far-reaching consequences for societies and economies,” said Tedros.


But the Ethiopian former health minister said the coronavirus crisis should not have come as a surprise, given the repeated warnings.
“We must all learn the lessons the pandemic is teaching us,” he said.
Tedros said all countries should invest in preparedness capacities to prevent, detect and mitigate emergencies of all kinds, and called for stronger primary health care provision.
The UN health agency’s chief said that with investments in public health, “we can ensure that our children and their children inherit a safer, more resilient and more sustainable world”.
The International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was called for by the United Nations General Assembly to promote the importance of prevention, preparedness and partnership in tackling epidemics.


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World Health Organization (WHO)

Coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, says World Health Organization’s chief

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization. Photo: WHO / Handout via Reuters

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Gro Harlem Brundtland, co-chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, says the group’s worst fears have been realised. Photo: EPA

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press conference organised by the Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus at WHO headquarters in Geneva. (Fabrice Coffrini/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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A warning sign outside a Republican campaign rally in Belgrade, Montana. The US leads with the world in Covid-19 deaths at almost 200,000. Photo: AP

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TOPSHOT - A health worker wearing a protective facemask checks the temperature of soldiers upon their arrival for the burial ceremony of late Zimbabwe's agriculture minister Perrance Shiri at the National Heroes Acre on July 31 2020, in Harare. - Perrance Shiri, 65, a retired general who commanded an army unit accused of a notorious massacre in the 1980s, succumbed to coronavirus (COVID-19), the president said on July 30, 2020. (Photo by Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)

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We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one,’ said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Tedros said all countries should invest in preparedness capacities to prevent, detect and mitigate emergencies of all kinds



Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said attempts to improve human health are ‘doomed’ without tackling climate change and animal welfare.
