The No 1 lesson from Covid-19, Ebola and Spanish flu? Countries must learn to work together, pandemic and emergency expert says

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres’ former international president says collective amnesia follows health emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic

The ‘everyone for themselves’ mentality won’t work, says Joanne Liu, who worked for the medical aid charity during the past decade’s global Ebola crisis

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Health emergencies such as Covid-19, the global Ebola outbreak that began in 2014 (above) and Spanish flu seem to trigger collective amnesia, says expert on health emergencies Dr Joanne Liu, who wants countries to work together to face future outbreaks. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:15am, 7 Nov 2023

The number one lesson we have gleaned from the coronavirus pandemic so far is that countries must learn to work together to tackle medical emergencies quickly and effectively.

That’s according to Dr Joanne Liu, who focuses on pandemic and health emergencies at the Pandemic Emergency Readiness Lab at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Speaking at a summit organised by the health-focused US media group Stat, the former international president of the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said she was disappointed, and a little surprised, when countries did not form a unified front against Covid-19.

Noting that each country tended to look to its own interests and follow its own guidelines at the height of Covid-19, Liu said that a fully global response would be necessary to control future pandemics.

Dr Joanne Liu from the Pandemic Emergency Readiness Lab at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, is disappointed that the world did not form a united front against the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: McGill University

“We are going to need to come together,” Liu said. “We can’t just say, ‘I’m going to do my little bit’ [to solve the problem] as that will not be enough.

“To make an impact, our response has to be articulated, and it has to be orchestrated. But I’m not sure that our global maturity has reached a level where we can do that.”