The world “needs to create a fire department for the pandemics” and respond to these health crises as you would any other natural disaster. So wrote the billionaire Bill Gates In an opinion piece by New York Times posted on sunday.
“The world has not done as much as it had hoped to prepare for the next pandemic,” he continues. “But it is not too late to prevent history from repeating itself.”
Despite the businessman’s apparent alarmist opinion, in his op-ed Gates was pleased by the World Health Organization’s announcement of a Global Health Emergency Corps that could “snap into action at any time when danger arises.” .
However, the Microsoft co-founder suggests that constant drills be done for different potential emerging pathogens so that there is seamless coordination with governments around the world.
Fighting pandemics as we would fight fires: Bill Gates
According to fortuneresearch published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America suggests that the possibility of a pandemic similar to the impact of COVID-19 is 38% in a person’s lifetime.
“We need to prepare to fight disease outbreaks just as we prepare to fight fires,” writes Gates, who is the author of How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. “If a fire is allowed to get out of control, it poses a threat not just to a home, but to the entire community. The same is true for infectious diseases, except on a much larger scale.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $2 billion to COVID-19 research since the pandemic emergency was declared. The businessman stressed that we still do not know the total cost in human lives, health complications and economic effects generated by the virus that emerged in Wuhan, China.
For the next pandemic, Bill Gates says pandemic emergency teams in each country and globally must be properly funded.
“Local first responders need to know that they can count on a surge of well-trained firefighters who will work together seamlessly,” Gates writes.
“They can’t arrive on scene only to find that their hoses don’t fit the nearest hydrant or that they have a completely different approach than the other units.”
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.