A white paper by the University of Texas’s Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs notes four gaps to address to increase pandemic preparedness and recommends ways to close the gaps. The four areas are:
- Establishing greater community resilience
- Strengthening coordination and leadership in Washington
- Changing rewards to encourage greater interdisciplinary research, education and service
- Increasing incentives for private sector involvement in pandemic preparedness and response and overall biosecurity.
Abt Project Management Officer for Global Health Security James White and Abt Analyst Alinda Lauer wrote the chapter on community resilience and its recommendations. They note:
- Communities are critical throughout the process, from recognizing and reporting potential outbreaks to rapid containment and control efforts
- National governments and international organizations haven’t addressed community needs to combat a pandemic, such as bolstering primary care systems and increasing universal health coverage
- International agencies don’t account for community vulnerabilities, such as poor physical infrastructure, which undermine efforts to cope with the contagion.