 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Bill Gates |
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| Language | English |
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| Published | April 2022 |
| Pages | 304 |
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How to Prevent the Next Pandemic is a 2022 book by Bill Gates. In it, Gates details the COVID-19 pandemic and how to prevent another pandemic, including proposing a "Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization" (GERM) team with annual funding of $1 billion. [1] [2]
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The book discusses various aspects related to the prevention of pandemics, including medical practices necessary for doing so. [3]
The Washington Post praised the book, saying that "The material is simplified but not simplistic. Anyone who reads it will end up with a basic grounding in the science of global health." [2]
The Times of London gave a mixed review, calling the book a "formidably informative read" while also saying that it "runs out of steam towards the end and becomes a general statement of techno-optimism." [4]
Vox criticized the book for not addressing the "root causes" of economic inequality that "worsens health crises." [5] The Washington Times called Gates' pandemic prevention proposal "the next phase of seizing individual liberties from supposedly free American citizens." and accused him of "trying to capitalize politically and financially on the ramped fears and manufactured hysteria". [6]
The medical journal The Lancet pointed out that on the same day that Gates advertised his book and GERM, the WHO published its report on Strengthening the Global Architecture for Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Resilience, similar to GERM, but without decision-making power. [7]
The Guardian noted that the book demonstrates the awareness of the impact of information technology in the spread of COVID-19 misinformation, but criticizes Gates' lack of interest in directly taking initiative to prevent COVID-19 misinformation from spreading via information technology. [3]
A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected individuals such as recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide.
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also one of the world's highest-impact academic journals. It was founded in England in 1823.
Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are often emphasized. Thus, global health is about worldwide health improvement, reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that disregard national borders, including the most common causes of human death and years of life lost from a global perspective.
The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) is a comprehensive regional and global research program of disease burden that assesses mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries, and risk factors. GBD is a collaboration of over 3600 researchers from 145 countries. Under principal investigator Christopher J.L. Murray, GBD is based in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Thomas R. Frieden is an American infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a $225 million, five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a national and international public health agency and research institute working in the area of global health statistics and impact evaluation, located at the University of Washington in Seattle. IHME is headed by Christopher J.L. Murray, a physician, health economist, and global health researcher, and professor at the University of Washington Department of Global Health, which is part of the School of Medicine. IHME conducts research and trains scientists, policymakers, and the public in health metrics concepts, methods, and tools. Its mission includes judging the effectiveness and efficacy of health initiatives and national health systems. IHME also trains students at the post-baccalaureate and post-graduate levels.
Eric Liang Feigl-Ding is an American public health scientist who is currently an epidemiologist and Chief of COVID Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was formerly a faculty member and researcher at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also the Chief Health Economist for Microclinic International, and co-founder of the World Health Network. His research and advocacy have primarily focused on obesity, nutrition, cancer prevention, and biosecurity.
Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that claim that pharmaceutical companies as a whole, especially in terms of big corporations, act in dangerously secretive and sinister ways that harm patients. This includes concealing effective treatments, perhaps even to the point of intentionally causing and/or worsening a wide range of diseases, in the pursuit of higher profits and/or other nefarious goals. The general public supposedly lives in a state of ignorance, according to such claims.
Devi Lalita Sridhar FRSE is an American public health researcher, who is both professor and chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Her research considers the effectiveness of public health interventions and how to improve developmental assistance for health. Sridhar directs the University of Edinburgh's Global Health Governance Programme which she established in 2014.
Social media became increasingly active as a platform for interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with the onset of social distancing. According to a study conducted by Facebook's analytics department, messaging rates rose by over 50% during this period. Individuals confined to their homes utilized social media not only to maintain social connections but also as a source of entertainment to alleviate boredom.
Pandemic prevention is the organization and management of preventive measures against pandemics. Those include measures to reduce causes of new infectious diseases and measures to prevent outbreaks and epidemics from becoming pandemics.
Planning and preparing for pandemics has happened in countries and international organizations. The World Health Organization writes recommendations and guidelines, though there is no sustained mechanism to review countries' preparedness for epidemics and their rapid response abilities. National action depends on national governments. In 2005–2006, before the 2009 swine flu pandemic and during the decade following it, the governments in the United States, France, UK, and others managed strategic health equipment stocks, but they often reduced stocks after the 2009 pandemic in order to reduce costs.
Peter Daszak is a British zoologist, consultant and public expert on disease ecology, in particular on zoonosis. He is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that supports various programs on global health and pandemic prevention. He is also a member of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He lives in Suffern, New York.
The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, or the Global Collaboration to Accelerate the Development, Production and Equitable Access to New COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, is a G20 initiative announced by pro-tem Chair Mohammed al-Jadaan on 24 April 2020. A call to action was published simultaneously by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 24 April. As of January 2022, it was the largest international effort to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had many impacts on global health beyond those caused by the COVID-19 disease itself. It has led to a reduction in hospital visits for other reasons. There have been 38 per cent fewer hospital visits for heart attack symptoms in the United States and 40 per cent fewer in Spain. The head of cardiology at the University of Arizona said, "My worry is some of these people are dying at home because they're too scared to go to the hospital." There is also concern that people with strokes and appendicitis are not seeking timely treatment. Shortages of medical supplies have impacted people with various conditions.
Sylvie Champaloux Briand is a French physician who is Director of the Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases Department at the World Health Organization. Briand led the Global Influenza Programme during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Briand launched the WHO Information Network for Epidemics which looked to counter the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.
Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away (2020), published by Oxford University Press and written by the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Confidence Project, Heidi Larson, looks at what influences attitudes to vaccination. It was largely compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic and inspired by her feeling that the dialogue between scientists and the public regarding vaccines was becoming complex on a background of increasing online information.
Joseph G. Allen is an American academic and public health expert. He is currently the director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, where he is also an associate professor. Much of Allen's work revolves around the emerging concept of healthy buildings and the impact of buildings and indoor air quality on human health.
Madhukar Pai is an Indian medical doctor, academic, advocate, writer, and university professor. Pai's work is around global health, specifically advocacy for better treatment for tuberculosis with a focus on South Africa and India. Pai is the inaugural Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health in the School of Population and Global Health and holds a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University.
Melody Ding is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. Ding is an epidemiologist and population behavioural scientist in Sydney School of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She is also a member of the Charles Perkins Centre and the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre. Ding's research aims to improve population health through epidemiological research and behavioural change.
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