Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World Review By Sher Zaman

Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World

An e-Book edition by Texas A &M University Press has made available to the public free and downloadable. Its title is “Preparing for Pandemics in the Modern World”. The book, which will be formally published later this fall, was already in development before the outbreak of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, I finished reading the book, from the first chapter “Resilience is Key: Lessons from Past Public Health Disasters” to the last (10th) chapter “Multi-Sector Preparedness: Facing the Next Pandemic Together”. The book is in a logical sequence, well written, easy to understand, and has valuable opinions and knowledge. The book is amazing and must be highly appreciated. The team has done a great job; I must congratulate every one of them. The book increased my knowledge and broadens the span of my thoughts.

I came to know that one of the strongest opponents to the effort were WHO’s Director-General, Dr. Candau, who did not believe smallpox eradication was possible.  Nowadays, I don’t watch TV because of too much fake news and substandard reporting in Pakistan. However, I read in the book that blame, rumor, distrust, and conspiracy theories are part of the fabric of human response to disasters. It also taught me the best chance of survival was to be utterly selfish. It further tells me that overpopulation, unnecessary industrialization, and cutting down of forests to convert into agricultural lands puts humans, domestic animals, and wildlife in closer proximity to one another and provides bridges for diseases to jump species that were not as easily possible before. 

I heard about the ideas of “One Health” and “Sustained Corporate Citizenship”. This document is so true in saying that many infectious diseases are global in nature and do not respect borders. It is a bit frightening that our world is not free from the next pandemic(s). So, we should be ready to face it together. However, the qualitative leadership role is pivotal in pandemics, disasters either man-made or natural. Besides so many things I will definitely remember “If you want people to do something, make it easy”.

Author Introduction

Sher Zaman belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and He is a human rights activist and works with a civil society organization in Lahore. He did his Master's Degree in human rights from Mahidol University, Thailand.