NEVER again. Charities have called for a surveillance service to prevent Ebola-like outbreaks.
It took two years to bring West Africa鈥檚 Ebola outbreak under control. To be faster in future, has recommended the creation of a watchdog that could nip emerging disease threats in the bud, plus a research centre to fund pre-emptive research into vaccines and treatments.
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鈥淲e can鈥檛 be reacting to things; we must get ahead of them, conducting research that doesn鈥檛 leave us exposed as we were with Ebola,鈥� said Jeremy Farrar of the UK鈥檚 Wellcome Trust, who helped oversee the panel鈥檚 report.
They hope that increased contributions to the World Health Organization could cover the 拢3 billion annual price tag, noting that responding to pandemics costs about 拢40 billion every year.
Image credit: Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淏e prepared鈥�
