Acknowledging new diseases are emerging and spreading in this way puts us in a stronger position to fight new pandemics, which are an inevitable part of our future.
A century ago, the Spanish flu pandemic infected about half a billion people and killed 50-100 million people worldwide.
Scientific advancement and huge investments in global health mean such a disease would be better managed in future.
However, the risk remains real and potentially catastrophic – if something similar were to happen again, it would reshape the world.
By the middle of the last century, some in the West claimed infectious diseases were conquerable.
But as urbanisation and inequality grow and climate change further disturbs our ecosystems, we must recognise emerging diseases as a growing risk.
