Preparedness for Pandemic Disasters to Come

The disruption of healthcare services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the global lack of preparedness for infectious pandemics and the disparities in healthcare access in different communities with higher mortality among the elderly, minority, and low-income groups. The failure of healthcare systems’ capacity and capabilities for preparedness response to the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of effective patient management and vaccine unavailability are responsible for the millions of deaths worldwide. Hopefully, this modern human catastrophe will serve as a wake-up call to strengthen and reinforce a resilient, effective, and solid healthcare framework. Essential elements for resiliency in public health emergency preparedness must be able to promote readiness for infectious-disease disasters. The World Health Organization has proposed a structured approach to the recovery and resilience of different healthcare systems during infectious pandemics. Such an approach ensures a timely, efficient, and effective response and preparedness for natural disasters and unpredicted infectious-disease outbreaks that have the potential to cross borders. This chapter presents the challenges encountered by different communities globally during this catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the lessons learned in case of future similar scenarios.