Preparing for future Pandemics

It is impossible to come up with a figure, but at an approximate estimate there have been about five and a half million deaths worldwide due to the coronavirus, and the world economy has lost about $4 trillion as a result of this pandemic. With the world population growing at a steady rate and no improvement in essentials such as safe drinking water, clean and breathable air, wider availability of medical care, or a better understanding of disease, human susceptibility to pandemics in the future remains very high. The best we can do between one pandemic and the next is to work on those factors mentioned above, so as to minimise the fall-out in the next one, because the only thing we can be sure of is that there will be another pandemic, and another and another, unless we manage to kill ourselves by some other method in the meantime, something we come close to achieving all the time.

We need to improve the speed with which strategies are put into place, seamlessly at the first sign of infectious disease, and of preventing violations, without the need for hair brained ideas such as tiger forces, on standby to perform nebulous tasks. One of the jobs of the tiger force is apparently to help control illegitimate rising prices, but no raw, untrained force can control the brazen jacking up of prices that has taken place of late

Most things vary according to State in the USA, but, generally in the United States, education from the age of five or six is compulsory right up to the age of 16 or 17.

In Pakistan, however, education is not compulsory and at an estimate there are well over 20 million children out of school in this country. Yet the similarities in the general population of both countries are startling.  Given that more people are ‘educated’ in the USA than in Pakistan, you wonder what the common factors are in both societies that give rise to such similar reactions, if not education?

Education includes literacy, and a very important aspect of education is its quality. To simply turn out literate beings is not likely to go a long way towards producing an understanding of matters. Quality of education is as important, an education in which curiosity, questioning and research is encouraged.

Nor is education the only thing that makes a difference. Organisation, discipline and method are as important, and these are not our strong points. The attitude towards problems faced by humanity also counts in a big way. It is clear that the attitude of the powers that be in either country towards poverty and its resultant issues is very low on the agenda. This means that while much more of the population in Pakistan may be poor, those who are poor in the USA are as disadvantaged as those in this country, and there is as little help for them at times of need.

The poor man in the USA is up the creek, in ways that are far more reminiscent of Pakistan than the UK or Europe. Decent healthcare for such persons is a major issue, as is housing.  It also seems that religious and other demagogueries thrive in such an atmosphere, and Donald Trump at the start of the pandemic was at his worst, pushing the solution of injecting bleach as a means of fighting the Covid 19 virus, while rubbishing scientific cures. He had many followers, and there are many like him in our own country where many pulpits are speaking of prayer as the cure of all evil at the expense of action.

A large segment in both countries does not believe in viruses and germs. As a result, these segments of society do not accept cures based on scientific research. Conspiracy theories and a mistrust of the authorities abound among both people, and in both countries anyone who rants and raves and sprinkles his or her speech with a liberal dose of religion is taken seriously.

There must be a concerted effort to bring an understanding of infection to the masses, to make them understand that viruses are not a figment of Bill Gates’ imagination, that vaccinations are not a weird Western conspiracy to implant chips into each citizen.

Pakistan, in fact has done quite well in controlling covid-19, and its covid helpline works efficiently, but there are always factors that require attention.

The population of the world must be led to better understand disease and what causes it. Teachers must work practically so students can see microbes under the lens, to help them accept their existence which at present they are unable to do.

Violence is also the solution of choice in response to a given problem in both countries. The wider and long-term effects of violence versus peaceful action must be explained clearly to everyone.

Masks have been a problem in both countries, as well as a refusal to accept isolation as a means of controlling the spread of infection. Of course, in impoverished segments of both countries, isolation has been a practical challenge, as well as an economic one. Something needs to be done about this.

Those who depend upon daily wages must be given ways in which they can earn a livelihood even under lockdown. Teachers need training for holding classes online for when schools shut down.

We need to improve the speed with which strategies are put into place, seamlessly at the first sign of infectious disease, and of preventing violations, without the need for hairbrained ideas such as tiger forces, on standby to perform nebulous tasks. One of the jobs of the tiger force is apparently to help control illegitimate rising prices, but no raw, untrained force can control the brazen jacking up of prices that has taken place of late.

We urgently need the ability to manufacture our own vaccinations, made to standard quality, to minimize our dependence on donations.

These factors must be incorporated, not just into the planning for pandemics, but into our education, to facilitate life both during or after pandemics.