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Pandemic preparedness
COVID-19 has highlighted, unequivocally, the need for strengthened health and care workforce policies and systems globally. As Member States negotiate a new WHO Pandemic Agreement to ensure improved collaboration, coordination, and collective action for future pandemics, it is paramount to learn from the challenges experienced and vocalised by the health and care workforce during the […]
Pandemic emergency financing facility: struggling to deliver on its innovative promise
The Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014-16 exposed many flaws in the global response to infectious disease. In particular, it highlighted the gap between countries’ commitments for outbreak preparedness, detection, and response, as required under the International Health Regulations, and their actual ability to respond when needed. This is partly due to a lack […]
Gender mainstreaming as a pathway for sustainable arbovirus control in Latin America
The 2015 to 2017 outbreak of Zika generated global attention on the risk of a spectrum of neurological disorders posed to women and their unborn children—including, but not limited to, microcephaly—that came to be known as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). Images of women cradling babies born with CZS underscored the gendered nature of the epidemic. […]
Serious games for serious crises: reflections from an infectious disease outbreak matrix game
While there is widespread recognition of global health failures when it comes to infectious disease outbreaks, there is little discussion on how policy-makers and global health organizations can learn to better prepare and respond. Serious games provide an underutilized tool to promote learning and innovation around global health crises. In order to explore the potential […]
Overcoming the ‘tyranny of the urgent’: integrating gender into disease outbreak preparedness and response
This article contributes to discussions on the gender dimensions of disease outbreaks, and preparedness policies and responses, by providing a multi-level analysis of gender-related gaps, particularly illustrating how the failure to challenge gender assumptions and incorporate gender as a priority at the global level has national and local impacts. The implications of neglecting gender dynamics, […]