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Governments across the world now know the importance of being prepared for fast-moving international public health emergencies. Diseases caused by viruses capable of hopping from animals to humans pose serious threats, but are by no means the only dangers we need to take seriously.
1. Vaccine hesitancy
The spread of misinformation has caused falls in measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination in countries including the and , contributing to an uptick in measles cases worldwide. The collapse of HPV vaccination in Japan in 2013 due to is expected to cause some . Vaccine hesitancy featured on a .
Yet even among people who desperately want vaccines, diminished access may be a knock-on effect of the current pandemic. In some places in Africa, people queue for 5 hours to get the yellow fever vaccine, says Sylvie Briand, director of the WHO’s Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases Department. “But in other countries, where people have not experienced those kinds of diseases, we need to better communicate the benefits of vaccines.”
2. Antibiotic resistance
A 2016 report commissioned by the UK government estimated that, globally, , and that this could . This includes people who catch superbugs while in hospital and lives lost to drug-resistant tuberculosis, respiratory tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and urinary tract infections. The UN is seeking agreement for a and efforts are under way to find new antibiotics and diagnostic tools. “New antibiotics are…
