'Next pandemic will be deadlier': WHO chief urges preparedness for next big health crisis

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has urged everyone to prepare themselves for the next pandemic, warning that the next could be “even deadlier” than the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Addressing the 76th World Health Assembly, Tedros stated that the end of COVID-19 as a global emergency should not underplay its potential as a worldwide threat, with new variants always a possibility. He stressed on the possibility of new pathogens emerging, ones that could be far more dangerous. 

"The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat," Ghebreyesus said.

"The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains," he added.

In addition to highlighting the threat of pandemics, the WHO head also focused on other emergencies that the world faces, stressing on the need for global mechanisms to solve the issues. 

The health body chief then advised everybody to prepare for the next pandemic.

"When the next pandemic comes knocking-and it will-we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably," he said. 

The WHO head then discussed the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stating that the pandemic had run the schedule off course, but the organisation would correct course with urgency. 

"The pandemic has blown us off course, but it has shown us why the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must remain our north star, and why we must pursue them with the same urgency and determination with which we countered the pandemic," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the WHO’s progress towards the Triple Billion Target, which the organisation announced at the 2017 World Health Assembly. As per the target, the organisation aims to ensure universal health coverage to one billion people, protection from health emergencies to another billion and better health to a billion more.