Abstract
It is nearly 5 years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and infectious disease outbreaks continue to cause international concern. Mpox in Africa was recently categorised by the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), while highly pathogenic avian influenza has spread to a range of non-avian species around the globe and has infected humans in several countries. Yet there is a sense of “collective global amnesia” about the COVID-19 pandemic. Investment in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) is nowhere near the scale or speed necessary. Despite repeated warnings from experts, numerous initiatives and the direct lived experience of a major pandemic, the level of activity does not match that required to mitigate the widespread health, social and economic impacts of the next (inevitable) pandemic. The risk is that we are falling into what has been dubbed “the cycle of panic and neglect.”