Leaders must act to prevent pandemics

[...]we recommend a change in mindset towards faster detection and reporting of outbreaks and threats by an independent, well-financed World Health Organization (WHO). Work is now under way to amend the international health regulations, which govern global responses to international public-health threats, to give the WHO clear authority to communicate freely on disease outbreaks, declare a PHEIC based on evidence and investigate without hindrance. The pandemic preparedness treaty currently being negotiated at the WHO will also ensure an end-to-end system for medical countermeasures, from research and development to delivery, that considers the public-health needs of countries of all income levels.