The world is unprepared for the next pandemic, study finds

The entire world remains unprepared for the next pandemic and most countries are underprepared even for small outbreaks of disease, researchers reported Wednesday.

Not a single country scored well on the Global Health Security index -- a measure of preparedness for various health emergencies and problems put together by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"The 2021 GHS Index continues to show that all countries still lack some critical capacities, which hinders their ability to respond effectively to COVID-19 and reduces their preparedness for future epidemic and pandemic threats. The average country score in 2021 was 38.9 out of 100, which is essentially unchanged from 2019," the report reads. The highest overall score was just under 76 -- achieved by the United States.

The worst area of preparedness is in preventing the emergence of new pathogens such as the virus that has caused the current pandemic. "The global average for the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens is 28.4 out of 100, making it the lowest-scoring category within the GHS Index," the report reads. It finds 113 countries "show little to no attention" to diseases transmitted from animals to humans.

"Leaders now have a choice," said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. "They can make dedicated, sustainable investments in the new capacities created during the COVID-19 response to prepare their countries for the long term, or they can fall back into the decades-long cycle of panic-and-neglect that will leave the world at grave risk for inevitable future public health threats."