Climate change and more contact between wild animals and humans increases the risk of diseases such as Lassa fever, Rift Valley Fever and Nipah.

Building resilient and sustainable disease intelligence systems is critical post-pandemic. Here we outline the strides Rwanda has made in this regard.

Faced with the mounting threat of animal disease spillovers, four African countries are working together to educate human communities on staying safe. 

Advances in AI are making it possible to quickly and effectively model potential viral vaccine targets

As multilateral institutions debate how to mitigate future disease outbreaks, we can take practical steps to improve upon the innovative mechanisms, including the COVAX facility, developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. That requires building a…

Nobody can be blamed for not wanting to hear the word ‘pandemic’ ever again. COVID-19, the worst global health emergency in 100 years, claimed the lives of millions of people.

Bats harbor many viruses that can spill over to humans. It’s time to leave bats and their habitats undisturbed.

Study emphasises the need to consider maternal and infant health in pandemic planning.

With the pandemic now seemingly in the rearview mirror, policymakers must start preparing for the next public-health crisis. Today’s political leaders have a historic opportunity to foster a more inclusive global order, and they have a…

This week negotiations are taking place on a historic Pandemic Accord to deal with future pandemics. Gavi’s Anamaria Bejar and Thiago Luchesi set out three vital points that are currently missing in the draft Accord.

Diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria account for two thirds of infectious disease and death among children and adolescents.

COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time because scientists were already working on vaccines against related viruses. Dr Melanie Saville from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) explains how a similar approach could…

Guinea has suffered outbreaks of Ebola, measles, Lassa Fever and Marburg, as well as COVID-19, over the past decade. VaccinesWork spoke to Gavi’s Senior Country Manager, Magdi Ibrahim, about how the country is learning from a troubled recent past…

The Gavi Board, which brings together stakeholders from across the world of immunisation¹, is meeting next week in Geneva. Prof. Jose Manuel Barroso, Chair of the Board, reflects on some of the key elements up for discussion.

The pandemic’s caps on numbers have lifted, and this year’s Hajj will draw millions. Countries including India are rolling out special vaccination drives to keep pilgrims safe from epidemic diseases.

COVID-19 threat is not over, World Health Assembly hears, as WHO launches global pathogen surveillance network.

Time and information is of the essence when tackling infectious diseases across countries and continents.

Infectious diseases have shaped human history. Here are some of the medical innovations that have helped fight the most destructive ones since the 1920s.

Routine immunisation is one of the most efficient and cost-effective healthcare interventions with the greatest reach and demonstrated health outcomes – an essential building block of the Universal Health Coverage and pandemic prevention,…

The XBB1.16 variant may be the most transmissible version of SARS-CoV-2 yet, but experts believe it is unlikely to cause a big wave of cases.

A new global dataset shows there is no clear global increase of infectious disease outbreaks over time. And it can suggest which countries would most likely be affected by an outbreak.

As the WHO reaches its 75th birthday, VaccinesWork looks at how the organisation came to be.

From inflation and worker burnout to AI-assisted diagnosis and precision medicine, global healthcare is being shaped by many trends right now. 

Kate Kelland explores the interconnection between two of the biggest existential risks that threaten our way of life: climate change and pandemics.

Officials confirm that no human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Cambodia.

While it is tempting to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the rear-view mirror, now is the time to prepare for future public-health crises. Governments should focus on boosting their health systems’ resilience, which includes strengthening prevention…

You’d be surprised how far back the roots of anti-vaccine arguments stretch.

An international collaboration of scientists has mapped out a strategy to make long-lasting and broadly protective coronavirus vaccines a reality.

We've just passed the third anniversary of the declaration of the COVID-19 emergency – and WHO says it’s not over yet. Let’s talk about it.

Climate change is making another pandemic likely – the question is not if but when? To prepare, the world needs a COP-level process for pandemic preparedness.

One thing is for certain though – the pandemic is not over yet.

Kenya’s desert lake is the hub of a profitable regional fish trade. Now, public health workers are patrolling the beaches and markets to make sure that the fish traders’ corridors don’t become epidemic highways.

A Pandoravirus has been revived after remaining dormant in the Siberian permafrost for nearly 50,000 years.

Many children have missed a measles vaccine dose since the start of the COVID pandemic.

We need to urgently invest in healthcare systems to build resilience against future crises and the growing burden of disease, finds new research.

Scientists have used mRNA technology to create a vaccine that can protect against 20 types of influenza. 

The G20 and international financial institutions still have not created a pandemic preparedness and response framework capable of managing the next global health crisis. Fortunately, some low- and middle-income countries are pioneering new models…

For four decades after World War II, climate change and job-displacing artificial intelligence were not on anyone’s mind, and terms like "deglobalization" and "trade war" had no purchase. But now we are entering a new era that will more closely…

September saw good progress in history’s largest vaccine rollout, with COVID-19 vaccine coverage continuing to increase in lower-income countries and civil society finding its voice. Managing Director of the COVAX Facility, Dr Derrick Sim, gives…

CEPI Vaccine R&D Project Leader, Mike Whelan, discusses the characteristics of the disease and CEPI's new call with the European Union to advance Rift Valley fever vaccines.

The global outbreak is winding down, but scientists say this is the time to use vaccines and antivirals to control the virus before it mutates into a bigger threat.

If governments fail to take action, the cost of living crisis will worsen the impact of the pandemic this winter, and vice versa.

Although Zika raced around the world in 2016, leading to babies born with developmental problems, research was slow to explain how the virus worked – until now.

The end of the pandemic may be in sight, but COVID-19 could be a harbinger of future calamities. If global leaders do not establish equitable mechanisms to respond before the next big crisis strikes, low-income countries and high-risk groups will…

In spite of the risk of infection, medical workers in Ondo State are putting their lives on the line to save those suffering from deadly Lassa fever.

As world leaders gather in New York for the 77^th United Nations General Assembly, why should we focus to re-commit to vaccine equity, routine immunisation and pandemic preparedness that learns from COVID-19?

We must protect health budgets to safeguard our populations and ensure that our health systems are resilient to inevitable future challenges. Healthier populations are happier, more productive and take an active role in the workforce. We must…

To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, Islamic organisations are not only promoting vaccinations but also administering them.

Researchers estimate we currently face a 2% chance of a COVID-19-like pandemic in any given year. Climate change is increasing this risk.

Swabs from two children in the UK reveal the cause of the ‘mysterious illness’.

A new virus has been discovered in China that is related to Nipah virus – here’s what we know so far.

COVID-19 vaccine coverage in low- and middle-income countries is increasing at a steady pace, but remains lower than higher-income nations. VaccinesWork spoke to Ted Chaiban, Head of the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership, about how…

New insights into the disruption caused by COVID-19 could help strengthen health systems ahead of future pandemics.

New cholera variants capable of causing large outbreaks could emerge. Constant monitoring is the only way to prevent possible pandemics. World has seen seven pandemics of the infectious disease.

Hint: It’s not because it wasn’t possible.

Figuring out whether the virus has evolved to be transmitted more easily will be key to controlling it.

Zoonotic diseases – such as COVID-19 and Ebola – spread from animals to people. And a rapidly growing global population is heightening the risk to humans, say experts.

The new name for monkeypox must be aligned with best practices in naming of infectious diseases to avoid the uninformed negative narrative that associates diseases with regions.

Various countries are experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, so what should we expect in the coming weeks?

A team of researchers made headlines this month with a paper that detailed a major breakthrough in the mystery of the origin of the Black Death. Here, archaeogeneticist Dr Maria Spyrou, co-lead author of that study, speaks to VaccinesWork about…

Almost 60 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Public awareness about transmission must be improved, say experts. Focus needed on surveillance, prevention and control measures.

This is not the first time that the monkeypox virus has spread beyond Africa, its continent of origin. But the current epidemic is unprecedented for a number of reasons.

Financing health care is not just a question of how much, but also of how. Impact bonds have done a lot to facilitate transformative change already – and…

Diseases like leprosy, river blindness, and trachoma are rare in much of the world, but they remain rampant in many of the poorest countries, even though they are largely preventable. A new initiative aims to raise awareness about diseases that…

We expected to find that screening everybody for TB would identify individuals not yet diagnosed, and treating them quickly would reduce the prevalence of TB in the community.

These are some of the pivotal areas we need to invest in to build better health systems.

Professor Marion Koopmans has been instrumental in investigating the animal origins of everything from bird flu to COVID-19. She is now looking at how we can prevent the next pandemic.

The virus may be exploiting a change in population behaviour and increased global travel but it can still be stopped from spreading further, say scientists.

We are still in the acute phase of the pandemic, with cases continuing to rise in many countries and vaccination rates stagnating. The private sector could play a key role in finally bringing COVID-19 under control.

TB, the single biggest killer among the world’s infectious diseases, is a major concern in Pakistan. But a concerted government strategy to find and treat hidden patients all over the country is paying off.

Governments have been preparing for an anthrax attack of bioterrorism as it’s the most likely pathogen to be used – so how has a bacterium that is normally found buried deep in the soil become such a deadly threat?

The UK has seen unusual cases of monkeypox, which is normally spread by infected wild animals in Africa. So what is this disease, how does it spread and can it be treated?

Five million dairy farmers and meat sellers are being hit hard by a Lumpy Skin Disease outbreak affecting their cattle.

The microscopic spikes on the SARS-CoV-2 virus are fundamental to its ability to infect us. Locking these shapeshifters in place would prove fundamental to developing vaccines against it.

In low- and middle-income countries, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed a long-neglected problem that was already contributing to untold preventable deaths every year. Now, a global mobilization to scale up the supply of medical oxygen must be…

Reports of a human infection with H3N8 bird flu in China and now the US¹ are reminders that avian influenza remains an ongoing threat. We spoke to Professor Ian Barr and Dr Michelle Wille about the current level of risk it poses, and…

The programme to eradicate polio shows that mass immunisation is possible in India.

With many countries failing to hit measles vaccine coverage targets, and COVID-19 control measures being lifted, the goal of measles elimination hangs in the balance.

A new class of insecticide-treated bed net significantly reduces malaria infections in children, by grounding mosquitoes’ flight and preventing them from biting new hosts.

Ugandan wildlife vet Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka knows that pathogenic threats move both ways across the human-animal boundary – and that the best way to protect both animals and people is to bring public health and conservation together.

Research shows that lockdowns helped control cases in general – but that not all control measures had the same effect.

Wastewater surveillance is increasingly used to track COVID-19 infections and the spread of new variants. Linda Geddes speaks to Dr Angela Chaudhuri about the Bangalore-based initiative she helped establish, which she hopes could provide a…

An unexpected legacy of COVID could be a new system for monitoring public health.

Disease outbreaks have shaped the world. But how much? New thinking on an early medieval pandemic takes on “plague sceptics” to show that we likely underestimated the impact of the first cross-continental assault of bubonic plague.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how ill-prepared health systems and societies are in the face of pandemic shocks and their protracted impact. Now, as global attention begins to shift towards improving the way we prevent and respond to…

The COVID-19 pandemic is the product of a globalized, interconnected world. Without new mechanisms that offer truly global approaches to crisis management and prevention, the experience of the past 18 months is likely to be repeated, with…

With COVID-19 still ongoing, viruses like Nipah are nipping at its heels as the potential next pandemic threat.

We all need to know about the science of COVID as we battle through pandemic, but the ultimate story will lie in how it changed our society.

Although the world’s eyes are currently focused on COVID-19, a network of laboratories has been tracking the emergence and spread of a different virus for seven decades.

Even before SARS-CoV-2 swept around the world, scientists had been warning of the global threat posed by viruses like it. Although COVID-19 vaccines should help to end the current coronavirus pandemic, it is unlikely to be the last.

Trying to control a pandemic can feel like being in a warzone, yet even as we fight COVID-19 we still need to keep one eye on the future and potential emerging pandemics. Dr Velislava Petrova, senior manager in vaccine policy and investment at…

Wuhan investigation points to wildlife as likely source of COVID-19. Climate change and illegal trade are increasing risk of zoonotic disease transmission. Wildlife protection, surveillance of zoonosis are key to early detection of ‘spillover…

If we are to minimize the impact of future disease outbreaks, we must recognize the importance of immunization and invest in preemptive vaccine development, writes Tim Keys.

Antimicrobial resistance was already a major global health threat, but now the potential increase in the use of antibiotics in response to the pandemic could exacerbate the problem and threaten a potentially even bigger global crisis.

As long as humans encroach on nature, pandemics are inevitable — making it important to concentrate resources in areas where people and wildlife are linked.

Although antimicrobial resistance has been a known and growing problem for decades, only one new class of antibiotics has been discovered since 1984. Tackling AMR requires a fundamental change in how new antibiotics are valued, and government…

The true number could be much higher, and two million could die before we get a vaccine, says the World Health Organization.

As more people have moved to cities, population density, human encroachment and increased global interconnectivity have contributed to the spread of infectious diseases.

What our lives will look in the short to medium term future is uncertain, but what does seem clear is we won’t return to a pre-COVID-19 life any time soon. Here are three potential scenarios that infectious disease experts have sketched out for…

Because of vaccination, many deadly diseases are now preventable. But we still lack vaccines for other potentially lethal diseases that could spread to become pandemics like COVID-19. Here is a list of 10 diseases to watch.

We don’t yet know how the COVID-19 pandemic will progress and how long it will take for a vaccine to be developed, but the knowledge and experience gained from past outbreaks can be applied to the global response to coronavirus.