About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of pandemic risk assessment and its role in global preparedness for future outbreaks.

Pandemic Risk Assessment is an emerging scientific toolkit designed to assess how pandemic risk is evolving over time. Rather than predicting the next outbreak, it integrates evidence across scientific disciplines to identify the drivers and estimate the probabilities of pandemic outbreaks. And in so doing, it can help policymakers prioritize prevention and preparedness investments before crises emerge. Pandemic Risk Assessment is still an emerging field, but there is growing momentum to institutionalize it, with discussions exploring a range of possible models, including options inspired by bodies such as the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is the UN-backed scientific body that regularly updates policymakers on the latest findings on climate change. Joining me to discuss why pandemic risk assessment is needed, what a robust scientific process might look like, and how to make it a permanent feature of our global pandemic preparedness landscape are Serina Ng and Ben Oppenheim. Ben Oppenheim is a non-resident fellow at the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab and at the Center for Global Development. Serina Ng is a Director at the World Health Organization and…

People in this episode

Guests: Serina Ng, Ben Oppenheim

Topics covered

• pandemic risk assessment
• public health
• policy making
• disease surveillance
• preparedness investments

Keywords

• pandemic risk
• preparedness
• public health policy
• disease surveillance
• IPCC

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: World Health Organization, G20 Joint Finance Health Task Force Secretariat, Berkeley Risk and Security Lab, Center for Global Development, IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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