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Preparing health-care systems for future pandemics

Increased vigilance in hospitals, better data sharing and training drills can help ready the world to respond to infectious-disease outbreaks.
  1. Kristina Campbell

    1. Kristina Campbell is a freelance science journalist in Victoria, Canada.

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Illustration showing a doctor pressing an alarm button on the wall and throwing off his white coat to reveal a hazmat suit

Credit: Sam Falconer

In January 2020, news outlets around the world reported a disease outbreak in China caused by a new pathogen. For a while, the now all-too familiar disease called COVID-19 appeared to be mostly contained in China — at the start of the final week of January, there were 2,700 confirmed cases in the country and only around 40 cases elsewhere. The rest of the world scrolled past the headlines, failing to see what was coming.

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Nature 610, S38-S40 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03356-6

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Pandemic preparedness, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 11 November 2022: An earlier version of this Outlook article misnamed the centre Jennifer Nuzzo is affiliated with. She is director of the Pandemic Center, not of the Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

References

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