The likelihood of another pandemic similar to COVID-19 or worse is around 28 percent, Bloomberg reported April 13. As such, the question for many has become "Are we ready?" In response, the World Health Organization has launched a new initiative aimed at making the answer a "Yes," — or at least "Here's how to be" — for countries around the world.
The Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats Initiative, officially announced April 26, was created by WHO to provide "guidance on integrated planning for responding to any respiratory pathogen."
The initiative also seeks to build and share plans and insights between stakeholders globally. Although right now, PRET will primarily focus on respiratory pathogens, there are plans in place to expand this initiative to include others as well like arboviruses, according to the press release.
Ultimately, the initiative is one that the WHO says is a "call to action to advance respiratory pathogen pandemic preparedness."