WHO tells countries to prepare for next pandemic

Two leading organisations have urged researchers and governments to prepare for the next pandemic.

The World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) called for research into pathogens that can infect humans, regardless of whether they pose a pandemic risk, as well as research focused on individual pathogens.

This approach proposes to use pathogen prototypes as guides or pathfinders to develop a knowledge base for entire pathogen families.

The call comes one year after the WHO declared COVID-19 to be an end to the global emergency.

The coronavirus has killed about seven million people and experts say a new pandemic is inevitable.

“History teaches us that the next pandemic is not a question of if, but when, and that science and political determination are crucial to mitigating its impact,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“Preparing for the next pandemic will require a similar combination of science and political determination. Improving our knowledge of the many pathogens that surround us is a global project that requires the participation of scientists from all countries.”

At the 2024 Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the WHO's Infectious Disease Research and Development Blueprint released a report urging a broad approach by researchers and countries.

This approach aims to create applicable knowledge, tools, and countermeasures that can rapidly adapt to new threats.

The strategy will also accelerate surveillance and research to understand how pathogens spread and infect humans, and how the immune system responds.

The report's authors likened their latest recommendations to imagining scientists as people searching for lost keys on the street – the next pandemic pathogen.

The areas lit by streetlights represent well-studied pathogens known to have the potential to cause a pandemic.

The dark spaces in this metaphor include many parts of the world, particularly biodiverse and resource-poor environments, which remain poorly monitored and studied.

These locations may harbor new pathogens but lack the infrastructure and resources to conduct comprehensive studies.

“The WHO Scientific Framework for Epidemic and Pandemic Research Preparedness marks a significant change in the way the world approaches preparedness development, and CEPI strongly supports it,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive Officer of CEPI.

“As announced at the 2024 Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the framework will help direct and coordinate research across pathogen families. It is a strategy that aims to strengthen the world's capacity to respond rapidly to unexpected variants, emerging pathogens, spillover zoonoses and unknown threats known as Pathogen X.”

The prioritization exercise underlying the report involved more than 200 scientists from over 50 countries, assessing the science and evidence across 28 virus families and one core bacterial group, including 1,652 pathogens.

The risk of epidemics and pandemics was determined taking into account available information on transmission patterns, virulence, and routes of transmission. Availability of diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments.

CEPI and WHO also called for globally coordinated research collaboration to prepare for a potential pandemic.

To facilitate this, WHO has worked with research institutes around the world to set up Collaborative Open Research Consortia (CORCs) for each pathogen family, with WHO Collaborating Centres acting as research hubs for each family.

These CORCs around the world bring together researchers, developers, funders, regulators, and testing experts, with the goal of facilitating broader research collaboration and equitable participation, especially from places where pathogens are known or likely to circulate.