GOVERNMENTS and international donors should finance country-level pandemic preparedness, according to a study released by the World Bank on Thursday. “Not investing enough in pandemic preparedness puts lives at risk and is bad economics. A severe pandemic could result in millions of deaths and cost trillions of dollars, and even smaller outbreaks can cost thousands of lives and cause immense economic damage,” according to a study by the WB International Working Group on Financing Preparedness. We have to ensure we are prepared, so the next outbreak does not become the next pandemic,” WB Group President Jim Yong Kim said. “Outbreak preparedness is chronically under-funded, and we have been waiting for bold thinking on financing since at least the mid-nineties,” Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan said.

Source: Manila Times May 25, 2017 16:41 UTC