The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, recently reiterated that the next pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. His warning was merely the latest of what experts have been saying for years that pandemics will only become more common and that we must be prepared for the next Disease X, a new pathogen that we have yet to discover. On today’s show, I’m joined by Assistant Professor Dr Ruklanthi de Alwis, a viral immunologist and the Deputy Director of the Duke-NUS Centre for Outbreak Preparedness in Singapore to find out what this means and how countries - especially in Southeast Asia - can prepare ourselves before the next outbreak hits. 

Image credit: Shutterstock

Produced by: Lim Sue Ann

Presented by: Lim Sue Ann

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Categories:  health policy,  managing disease,  medical advances,  government

Tags:  the bigger picture,  health and living,  global health threats,  pandemic,  epidemic,  outbreak,  pathogen,  emerging infectious diseases,  zoonotic spillover,  globalhealththreats,