Pandemics have afflicted humankind throughout history and are more likely to occur because of the worsening climate crisis. Pandemics can force decisionmakers to make tough choices between public health and the economy, and lives and livelihoods. However, the business case for pandemic preparedness is not always obvious for all countries and the advantages of preparedness could depend on factors such as the severity of the pathogen and the age distribution of the population. Solid evidence on the value of investment in pandemic preparedness is therefore needed to empower countries to make optimal choices for the benefit of populations around the world.
Jameel Institute in partnership with Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE) and others, seeks to forge the world’s first initiative on the economics of pandemic preparedness. Building on the existing DAEDALUS model that was developed for the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint mission through this Call to Action is to develop an integrated scientific model over a 5-year period that will help project deaths, economic and social costs of hypothetical future pandemics under alternative preparedness scenarios with four deliverables:
There is a great uncertainty when navigating decision-making in a pandemic and decisions on border closures, lockdowns, who and when to vaccinate may need to be made. An integrated scientific model will allow countries to input various parameters and adopt suitable mitigation strategies based on available data and hypothetical scenarios. The online platform will also enable exchange of information across countries in real time supporting decision-making capabilities during disease outbreaks. Working closely with various stakeholders, in-depth studies in selected countries addressing particular issues will be conducted and a pipeline of next generation researchers trained in the use of the integrated model shall be established to support informed policy choices according to the country-specific context in a pandemic.