Pandemic preparedness

Preparedness is the standing capacity to detect, assess and respond to an epidemic before it becomes a crisis: surveillance and laboratory networks, trained field staff, stockpiles, legal authority, and arrangements for producing and distributing countermeasures equitably. It is built between emergencies and is usually funded during them.

We report preparedness as an infrastructure story rather than a forecasting one. The recurring constraint in past responses has not been scientific knowledge but capacity, coordination and trust.