February 28, 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the biggest disaster in living memory, on almost any measure. Over 6.5 million people are confirmed to have died in less than 3 years, and the pandemic’s indirect impacts have touched the lives of virtually every community on the planet.
IFRC’s World Disasters Report 2022 focuses on the coronavirus pandemic and preparedness: both the ways preparedness ahead of COVID-19 was inadequate, and how the world can prepare more effectively for future public health emergencies.
For the IFRC, preparedness encompasses preventing, responding to, and recovering from an emergency. Being truly prepared therefore means being ready to respond, to recover, and to learn lessons for next time. In other words, preparedness is an ongoing, continuous process.
We can save lives simply by being prepared. The next pandemic could be just around the corner: if the experience of COVID-19 won’t quicken our steps toward preparedness, what will?
