Bill Gates has just released his new book, How To Prevent The Next Pandemic. There, he explained the anticipation that could be done so that a pandemic like Corona would not happen again.
"This is something I have been thinking about for a long time and COVID makes it clear that the world needs to prioritize eliminating the pandemic as a threat to humanity," Bill Gates wrote on his blog.
"I have been observing COVID since the beginning of the outbreak, working with experts who have been fighting infectious diseases for decades. I learned a lot about this pandemic and how we can stop the next one," he added.
So from that experience, he wrote the latest book to ensure that no more people will suffer from a pandemic in the future.
Well, here are 3 steps that Bill Gates put forward to ensure that a pandemic like Corona can be prevented, as quoted by us from INC:
1.Improve the health system everywhere
According to Bill Gates, better health systems are needed, especially in developing countries. Currently, it is not evenly distributed. For example, when Omicron first developed in South Africa, less than a quarter of the population had been vaccinated and very few had received boosters.
Some experts believe that the lack of vaccination gives the virus an opportunity to mutate into a new form. Although the Omicron seems lighter than the previous variant, things can get complicated if it turns out that the new variant is more vicious. This can be overcome if health systems in developing countries are improved.
2.Creating a global virus surveillance system
Bill Gates sees early detection as the key to stopping the deadly virus from spreading and preventing future pandemics. In the past, when Ebola first appeared, there were no experts who immediately studied it so it was too late to prevent it.
Currently, the condition is indeed better, but still needs improvement. According to the founder of Microsoft, if a worldwide pathogen surveillance system is built, it doesn't matter in which country a virus appears, resources can be mobilized to anticipate it.
3.Continuous innovation of detection, treatment and prevention
Bill Gates said that innovations in key sectors such as diagnostics or tests, therapies and vaccines need to continue. With innovation, vaccines, tests and treatments can be developed and distributed faster than now. "This is what will make a catastrophic pandemic a thing of the past," Gates wrote.
It sounds very ambitious, but actually the way there is already open. "The progress we've made in the last two years, including the huge leap forward in vaccines and the knowledge we've gained about respiratory diseases, has paved the way for success for us," said Bill Gates.