Outbreak Readiness and Business Impact – White Paper: Key Facts

The Outbreak Readiness and Business Impact white paper has been released by the World Economic Forum. The white paper was released by the WEF in collaboration with the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Highlights of the White Paper

The important findings of the report are:

• The number and kind of infectious disease outbreaks have increased significantly over the past 30 years.
• The world has witnessed 200 epidemic events per year since 2011.
• Pandemics will be the cause of average annual economic losses of 0.7 per cent of global GDP i.e. $ 570 billion. This is a threat similar in scale to that estimated for climate change in the coming decades.
• The business risk posed by a new era of epidemic risk can no longer be thought of exclusively and the companies operating globally should take action to mitigate threats posed by epidemics.

Even the WEF’s Global Risks Report 2019 had also flagged concerns over naturally emerging infectious disease threats and risks posed by revolutionary new biotechnologies.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2019