SETTING THE AGENDA FOR A GLOBAL HEALTH CRISIS BEYOND COVID-19 2

Abstract

Epidemics and pandemics have constituted a clog in the development process in man’s history arising from their dynamics such as high mortality and morbidity rates and severe disruptions of social, political and economic lives that exacerbated poverty conditions. These pushed humanity into huge debilitating health, economic and social conditions which called for investments in both human and other resources to seek solutions to their damaging consequences. Although this paper is not a study of hindsight, it has however, generally extrapolated from experiences of previous pandemics particularly the Spanish flu (1918- 19), and the current COVID where it found out that the efforts made by man so far in checking both the emergence and handling of epidemics and pandemics has remained grossly inadequate. Again, from hind and in sight(s) of the global health crises landscape, the paper has argued that the emergence of epidemics and pandemics in a post- COVID era should be anticipated and as such mitigation should also be pursued in anticipation. This is achievable by playing roles by governments, nongovernmental organizations and individuals alike across the globe, that are targeted at achieving environmental and human health, and economic and socio-political protection of humanity. Data and information for the execution of the paper were sourced from published texts and from the cyberspace.