Pandemic Threat: Beyond the Virus
The pandemic threat isn't just the virus — it's inequality, writes Matthew M. Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy and Politics.
Science can stop outbreaks, but equity is needed to prevent pandemics. The science of fighting disease has never been stronger, with the ability to sequence a virus in days, build a vaccine in months, and detect outbreaks almost as soon as they begin.
Despite all our technology, we keep losing.
One key reason is that rising inequality is making the world more vulnerable to disease — and every pandemic, in turn, deepens inequality.
Author's summary: Pandemics thrive on inequality.