The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not the last one, so the world must brace for a new pandemic in advance, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing Monday.
"This will not be the last pandemic. History teaches us that outbreaks and pandemics are a fact of life. But when the next pandemic comes, the world must be ready - more ready than it was this time," the director-general said.
According to Ghebreyesus, the COVID-19 pandemic is "teaching all of us many lessons."
"One of them is that health is not a luxury item for those who can afford it; it’s a necessity, and a human right," the director-general underscored, adding that the public health is "the foundation of social, economic and political stability."
That means that states must invest in "preventing, detecting and responding to disease," he continued. He called on all states to "invest in public health, and especially in primary health care."
He cited Thailand’s efforts to boost healthcare as a positive example. He also noted "hard decisions" made by Italy which allowed it to "bring the outbreak under control."
He also named Mongolia, Mauritius, Uruguay and a number of other states as examples of successful fighting the infection spread.