Disasters Avoided

Disasters AvoidedDisasters AvoidedDisasters Avoided

Disasters Avoided

Disasters AvoidedDisasters AvoidedDisasters Avoided
  • Home
  • Framing Disasters
    • Defining a disaster
    • Avoiding a disaster
    • A symphony of action
    • Links to Sendai
    • An emerging model
    • Governance Accountability
    • Targets & economics
    • Earth observations
    • Tools & techniques
  • Case Studies
    • Case Studies list
    • Map view
  • General Information
    • Our articles and papers
    • Our interviews
    • Related activities
    • Liaison with UN agencies
    • Going beyond the SDGs
    • Urban Disaster Risk
    • Contact us
  • News
    • Our Newsletter
    • Disaster preparedness
    • Global news
  • More
    • Home
    • Framing Disasters
      • Defining a disaster
      • Avoiding a disaster
      • A symphony of action
      • Links to Sendai
      • An emerging model
      • Governance Accountability
      • Targets & economics
      • Earth observations
      • Tools & techniques
    • Case Studies
      • Case Studies list
      • Map view
    • General Information
      • Our articles and papers
      • Our interviews
      • Related activities
      • Liaison with UN agencies
      • Going beyond the SDGs
      • Urban Disaster Risk
      • Contact us
    • News
      • Our Newsletter
      • Disaster preparedness
      • Global news
  • Home
  • Framing Disasters
    • Defining a disaster
    • Avoiding a disaster
    • A symphony of action
    • Links to Sendai
    • An emerging model
    • Governance Accountability
    • Targets & economics
    • Earth observations
    • Tools & techniques
  • Case Studies
    • Case Studies list
    • Map view
  • General Information
    • Our articles and papers
    • Our interviews
    • Related activities
    • Liaison with UN agencies
    • Going beyond the SDGs
    • Urban Disaster Risk
    • Contact us
  • News
    • Our Newsletter
    • Disaster preparedness
    • Global news

Pandemic Prevention

Key Points

Stopping one pandemic each millennium pays back on the investment

  • The COVID-19 pandemic’s immediate cost from mortality, morbidity, and economic losses, is, at minimum, tens of trillions of dollars.
  • As well, lost labour, morbidity, and poorer quality of life occur from long COVID.
  • International cooperation for pandemic prevention, through pathogen surveillance and response to threats, is at maximum tens of billions of dollars per year.
  • Without even considering vaccines, investing modestly in pandemic prevention would pay back with a single pandemic per millennium.

The case for prevention

Will we learn from COVID-19?

Poor pandemic prevention via pathogen surveillance and swift response to a threat, offered a stark choice for COVID-19: death through disease and health system collapse or death through lockdowns. 


Lower estimates of COVID-19’s health and economic costs reach tens of trillions of dollars without long COVID’s impacts. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) budget is under $4 billion per year for all activities. 


The cost of international cooperation on pandemic prevention, with or without WHO, appears to be under tens of billions of dollars per year, such as for all countries to fully implement the International Health Regulations. 


Examples of supporting Earth observations are tracking wildlife trade, new zoonotic microbes, and human pathogens in sewage. 


Prevention costs orders of magnitude less than pandemics and lockdowns, even for one pathogen per millennium. Since 2000, three new pandemics have appeared (SARS, H1N1 flu, and COVID-19) layered on two ongoing pandemics (HIV/AIDS and cholera).


Sources:

1. Cutler, D.M. and L.H. Summers. 2020. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the $16 Trillion Virus. JAMA, 324, 15, 1495-1496.

2. Martonosi, S.E., B. Behzad, and Cummings. 2021. Pricing the COVID-19 vaccine: A mathematical approach. Omega, 103, article 102451.

Download this Case Study

This Case Study and supporting information is available in the following documents:

DA-CS-One-Pager-Pandemic-COVID-19 (pdf)Download
ESP_pandemias (pdf)Download

Copyright © 2023 - 2025 Disasters Avoided - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by

  • Data & Information

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

DeclineAccept