Smallpox, a disease that killed an estimated 500 million people in the 20th century alone, is the only human disease to be eradicated. However, a new report, "Future State of Smallpox Medical Countermeasures," from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) argues that the U.S. and the global community should prepare for smallpox to make a return.
Climate change is directly contributing to humanitarian emergencies spared by heatwaves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes. Those and similar climate shocks are only increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.
In a new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), public health officials cite the challenges of using federal COVID-19 funds to build and maintain infrastructure for emergency readiness. ...
Following the first-ever head-of-state summit on pandemic preparedness at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (yesterday), leaders approved a political declaration that spells out steps to better prepare the world for the next pandemic.
Everyone has things that, looking back, they would have done differently in the early days of 2020, had they known how the Covid-19 pandemic would tear across the globe. But those regrets may be particularly poignant for global leaders whose actions (or lack thereof) had direct impacts on how Covid-19 spread.
