Responding to emerging threats

Despite the rapid collective action of the global health community in response, the pandemic laid bare the true reality of global health inequity. Resource-limited countries were often the last to receive vaccine doses, despite being the most at risk to fallout of the virus. The situation was a wake-up call to the need for better disease surveillance and more resilient healthcare systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Malaria Consortium devotes significant resources in supporting national governments to embed robust surveillance, monitoring and evaluation systems within health programmes and infrastructure. Facilitating accurate gathering of disease intelligence empowers decision makers with timely, actionable health data — making it possible to react quickly and appropriately when a new threat emerges.

The pandemic further highlighted the importance of close relationships with national health programmes and country health authorities, and of sharing technical knowledge and the use of evidence to adapt to changing circumstances. As our own collaboration with governments, cultivated over many years, demonstrated, we could continue to protect and save lives.

As new threats emerge, including drug and insecticide resistance, the impact of climate and extreme weather on disease transmission, and funding cuts to development programmes, such partnerships are more critical than ever. Responding to outbreaks is a global responsibility — one that requires stakeholders to pool their collective knowledge and expertise for maximal impact, doing more with less and targeting resources to where the greatest need lies.

The lessons learnt from this experience have deeply informed our ongoing work, emphasising the importance of strong infrastructure, collective action, and effective communication and cooperation between countries to safeguard their communities against future outbreaks. The world may seem to have moved beyond COVID-19, but we hope these insights into resilience, adaptability and leadership in global health crises will continue to inform our own and others' responses to future pandemics.