Strengthen local level administration to tackle future pandemics: Soumya Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan emphasizes need for local preparedness, investment in science & harmony with nature to prevent pandemics.

Former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organisation Soumya Swaminathan has said that the ideal way to prevent pandemics in the future is to ensure that the local authorities are well prepared to tackle them.

“At the sub-district level, you need a team of well-trained public health people who can spot these things and, of course, act on better surveillance and better data. We need preparation at all levels, but more importantly at the sub-State level,” she said while delivering the Dr. K.M. Munshi memorial lecture on ‘Lessons from the pandemic’ at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kochi Kendra, here on Friday.

“Health systems need to be resilient. We need to have supplies, financing, and empowered leadership. We cannot wait for decisions to come from somewhere else as it takes several days. If the problem is local, the decision has to be also local. Action has to be taken right away,” she said.

Maintaining that the second lesson was to invest in science, Dr. Swaminathan, chairperson of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, said it was important to recognise that investment in science was absolutely important for any country. “It cannot be done after an emergency. You have to do it persistently and across various disciplines,” she said.

Emphasising the need to prioritise public health and public good, Dr. Swaminathan said the government must have a plan as regards its public health priorities. “It has to identify the gaps. If we go to a primary health centre, we can find hardly any diagnostics. It is very minimal. The financing for those products has to come from the government to a large extent and, of course, the private sector plays a very important role,” she added.

Pointing out that the next lesson is to address the risk factors, she asked whether one could begin to live in better harmony with nature. “Can we look at out agricultural practices to improve nutrition. Can we protect the forests, wetlands, and marine environment?” she asked.

Venugopal C. Govind, and E. Ramankutty, chairman and director respectively of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kochi, spoke.