Issue Persistent risk of new pandemics and fragile preparedness funding

Summary

The report finds that the covid pandemic reawakened the world to pandemic risk and that its lessons are being used to improve early detection, response and cooperation, yet the risk of new pandemics remains high. Because global trade and traffic are tightly interlinked and animals and plants are traded while birds follow migration routes, zoonoses can spread quickly across several continents. In a world of international travel, migration and densely populated cities, a local outbreak also runs a greater risk of becoming a global pandemic. The Netherlands is building preparedness through research on risk prediction, prevention and control, but preparedness programmes at the national public health institute and the regional health services have so far only ever had temporary budgets. The report explains that Dutch healthcare capacity will have to allow for periodic peak loads in future.