The Next Pandemic - Foreign Affairs Anthology Series

In this anthology, The Next Pandemic, Foreign Affairs explores early warnings of an impending health crisis, from Laurie Garrett’s “The Return of Infectious Disease” in 1996 to Michael T. Osterholm’s “Preparing for the Next Pandemic” in 2005. Next, we examine the responses to previous outbreaks, from hiv/aids to sars to Ebola, and how many of those lessons failed to stick, leaving governments and international institutions to repeat past mistakes. We also turn to the outbreaks still to come. As Osterholm and Mark Olshaker write in “Chronicle of a Pandemic Foretold,” planning for the next global health emergency should begin now. A new pathogen may be deadlier and more infectious than the novel coronavirus, and it could appear without notice. If the staggering toll of the current pandemic is any indication, most countries are far from ready to handle it when it does. Perhaps this time the world will heed the warning.