Building Long Term Response for Corona like Pandemics

    I start with Jim Kim, former world bank president remarks that, The World has seen repeated instances of cycle of panic,neglect ,panic,neglect, whereby the tremor created by an adverse outbreak recedes , attention shifts , and we let out vital outbreak fighting mechanism atrophy. 

    This is so true and relevant to this day. The world has faced enough pandemics and epidemics since 3000 BC but every time our response is such that this is the first pandemic. It shows our mentality that we only think to overcome it in shortest time and then forget about it. We have not bothered to include huge experiences learned in fighting all previous pandemics and incorporating these to our future responses . Each time a new war with no memory, reinventing the wheel afresh.

    There were several large epidemics and  pandemics which changed the course of history starting from the first recorded epidemic in North East China in 3000 BC. It wiped out pre-historic habitation. After that at regular interval world has faced hundreds of pandemics and epidemics and some got recorded and some unrecorded. Few of  them were so large that cannot be ignored and teaches a hard lesson which mainly  includes,

1. Black Death 1346-53 traveled from Asia to Europe and created shortage of labor in Europe and one of the reasons of  technological innovation to fight labor shortage.It changed the course of Europe.

2. American Plague 16th Century were so huge and devastating that the entire Inca and Aztec civilizations collapsed during  this pandemic and was the main cause of  Spain to conquer Aztec in 1519 and Incas in 1532.The entire history of Central America changes with the loss of two greatest civilizations.

3.Great Plague of London 1665-66 was so large that it ignited  mass scale  migration from London.

4.Flu Pandemic 1889-90 

5.Spanish Flu 1918-20 was the largest pandemic with highest number of cases and deaths.The approximate death was close to 50 millions.

6. Asian Flu 1957-58 started from China/Singapore from the blend of Avian flu viruses and caused loss of more than one million lives.

7.AIDS pandemic and epidemic 1981-present

8. H1N1 swine flu pandemic 2009-10

9.Ebola epidemic 2014-16

10. Zika Virus 2015- present 

And now the world is reeling under most rapid COVID virus which engulfed the entire world in less than 100 days after its first appearance in Wuhan , China. What is important is that in 20th century after the Spanish Flu the frequency of such pandemics have grown and there is a clear trend which established linkages with the environment and our inability or may be we are pretending to accept the reality.

    Forget about previous centuries , 21st century itself have five such pandemic including Corona and four in last 12 years. It seems that all these pandemics are warning to us for the much bigger pandemic in future and giving us time to prepare well. It seems just the beginning of much serious pandemics in future. If we take it lightly then the consequences for repeat of such pandemics in future would be very serious and will change the course of history and mankind.

    The world is fortunate that most of the pandemics of this century has lower mortality rate and imagine what will happen if some other deadly mutants of corona or other virus stuck the world with very high mortality rate and also severely affects the children.

    The time has come to take a serious note of corona fighting mechanism and its institutionalization in to the health system for such future pandemic. We cannot afford to loose it. The corona has not only exposed health system in developing countries but also in developed countries. The corona has exposed wide gap in universal response to fight such pandemic. The need of the hour is to strengthen our capacity for  global response to such pandemic and take it down to country level and local level. This require new thinking to strengthen world wide health system. Corona has also proved that no one is safe , big nations or poor nations, affluent people or poor people, men or women, urban or rural , the pandemic don't recognize on worldly traits and identification. It equalizes all and to learn from it the world also need to develop equal response world wide to contain such pandemic. 

    This requires trillion of dollars , learning from past, new innovations, research , capacity development at all level, awareness, partnership with all stakeholder,coordination, rapid world wide response mechanism  and based on it detail comprehensive plan for health system strengthening from top to bottom will equip entire world. And only such developed health system will provide  a much needed shield to such pandemics in future.