About 1,105 results for "How to prepare for future pandemics?"

Abstract: The COVID-19 experience demonstrated how little some agribusinesses understood their supply chain. As companies were scrambling to determine how the shutdowns would impact their input suppliers, they surely perceived a need to prepare better for future pandemics. This article describes the practice of supply chain mapping, an activity used to better understand the upstream and downstream components of a company's supply chain. In addition to describing how mapping works, this paper illustrates how mapping can help identify supply chain vulnerabilities and reduce risk. Moreover, it discusses a number of other mapping benefits, including transparency in sustainability commitments and idea generation.

Abstract: Events unfolding around the COVID-19 pandemic have historical parallels, particularly relating to health disparities and health injustice; limited health information literacy; failure of the US federal government to launch an organized response and clearly inform the public; and widespread misinformation and disinformation, along with their health-damaging and life-threatening impacts. These themes have been prominent during earlier pandemics, including smallpox outbreaks and the 1918 influenza pandemic. In this article, we discuss these themes and findings from our exploratory investigation into how the 1918 influenza pandemic was portrayed in women’s magazines, how extensive misinformation and disinformation circulated (especially patent medicine advertisements), and how libraries strove to overcome numerous challenges (similar to today’s) to continue to meet the public’s needs and help them navigate the flood of misinformation and disinformation. In conclusion, we discuss important lessons learned from previous pandemics that can help libraries to serve the public optimally during future pandemics.

Abstract: More than 2 years after the explosion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, extensive efforts have been made to develop safe and efficacious vaccines against infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The pandemic has opened a new era of vaccine development based on next-generation platforms, including messenger RNA (mRNA)-based technologies, and paved the way for the future of mRNA-based therapeutics to provide protection against a wide range of infectious diseases. Multiple vaccines have been developed at an unprecedented pace to protect against COVID-19 worldwide. However, important knowledge gaps remain to be addressed, especially in terms of how vaccines induce immunogenicity and efficacy in those who are elderly. Here, we discuss the various vaccine platforms that have been utilized to combat COVID-19 and emphasize how these platforms can be a powerful tool to react quickly to future pandemics.

Abstract: Government investment in preparing for pandemics has never been more relevant. The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated debate regarding the trade-offs societies are prepared to make between health and economic activity. What is not known is: (1) how much the public in different countries are prepared to pay in forgone GDP to avoid mortality from future pandemics; and (2) which health and economic policies the public in different countries want their government to invest in to prepare for and respond to the next pandemic. Using a future-focused, multi-national discrete choice experiment, we quantify these trade-offs and find that the tax-paying public is prepared to pay $3.92 million USD (Canada), $4.39 million USD (UK), $5.57 million USD (US) and $7.19 million USD (Australia) in forgone GDP per death avoided in the next pandemic. We find the health policies that taxpayers want to invest in before the next pandemic and the economic policies they want activated once the next pandemic hits are relatively consistent across the countries, with some exceptions. Such results can inform economic policy responses and government investment in health policies to reduce the adverse impacts of the next pandemic.

Abstract: Metagenomic approaches have been key to successful tracing and outbreak management during the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we use this knowledge to better prepare, strategize and prevent future pandemics? [Formula: see text].

Abstract: Regarding crises, former US President John F. Kennedy once said: “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.” The current COVID-19 outbreak has cruelly exposed how unprepared the world has been to deal with such pandemics. Whilst many of our discussions have centred around scarcity of PPE (personal protective equipment), ventilators, etc, an issue of equal, if not greater, importance is to address the existing inequities in trained professionals: especially trained intensivists, doctors in infectious disease, public health, geriatricians, etc, if we are to use this opportunity to better prepare for future pandemics.

Abstract: COVID-19 continues to be a public health crisis, while severely impacting global financial markets causing significant economic and social hardship. As with any emerging disease, pharmaceutical interventions required time, emphasizing the initial and continuing need for non-pharmaceutical interventions. We highlight the role of anthropological and historical perspectives to inform approaches to non-pharmaceutical interventions for future preparedness. The National Academy of Medicine, a not-for-profit, non-governmental US-based medical watchdog organization, published a key document early in the COVID-19 pandemic which points to inadequate quarantine and containment infrastructure as a significant obstacle to an effective pandemic response. In considering how to implement effective quarantine policies and infrastructure, we argue that it is essential to take a longitudinal approach to assess interventions that have been effective in past pandemics while simultaneously addressing and eliminating the negative socio-historical legacies of ineffective quarantine practices. Our overview reinforces the need for social equity and compassion when implementing containment.

Abstract: On 5th May 2023, World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern, and various governments are closing their healthcare facilities, meticulously prepared for the world’s worst pandemic. However, the question arises of how to exit the severe phase of this pandemic responsibly. The present communication discusses the follies of being under-prepared in tackling COVID-19, particularly by the economically weaker nations, and it also outlines the necessary steps that are now needed for better management of future pandemics, with international co-operation of the developed and developing countries. More attention is needed to address the paradox of digital access in excess, but of little technical use, particularly in emergencies like that of the recent viral pandemic. If the scientific analyses of  the healthcare issues been carried out correctly, their predictions and strategies supported by authentic big data, managing the pandemic could have been better. Still, it is not late and expertise developed recently can help the future generations. On the individual front, mass education, awareness of hygiene, and understanding and application of basic science, particularly in rural areas is, needed to be safer rather than depend on traditional beliefs and expect miracles, a system prevalent in developing countries.

Abstract: BACKGROUND Despite some emerging lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence suggests the world remains largely underprepared for-and vulnerable to-similar threats in the future. METHODS In 2022, researchers at the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) led a team of volunteers to explore how future disruptions, such as pandemics, might impact work and the practice of occupational safety and health (OSH). This qualitative inquiry was framed as a strategic foresight project and included a series of activities designed to help better understand, prepare for, and influence the future. RESULTS Findings from a thorough search for indicators of change were synthesized into nine critical uncertainties and four plausible future scenarios. Analysis of these outputs elucidated three key challenges that may impact OSH research, policy, and practice during future disruptions: (1) data access, (2) direct-to-worker communications, and (3) mis- and dis-information management. CONCLUSIONS A robust strategic response is offered to address these challenges, and next steps are proposed to enhance OSH preparedness and institutionalize strategic foresight across the OSH community.

Abstract: The novel coronavirus outbreak of 2019/2020 (COVID-19) has had wide-reaching and unprecedented impacts on the transport sector over the whole world. At present, there is no globally-agreed timeframe for when this pandemic will end. It is necessary to figure out how to address the current and near-future potential impacts in a relatively comprehensive and seamless way. Here, the author proposes a PASS (P: Prepare–Protect–Provide; A: Avoid–Adjust; S: Shift–Share; S: Substitute–Stop) approach for policymaking against COVID-19 and future public health threats. First, the PASS approach is illustrated conceptually, and then policy measures are recommended by referring to the past and ongoing best practices. Finally, policymaking challenges and research issues are discussed.