If the planet manages to avoid another world war, a new sweeping pandemic is very likely to break out within the next 25 years, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has warned.
“A lot of turmoil” in this day and age could spark a major war, he told CNBC’s “Make It.” “If we avoid a major war … then, yes, there will be another pandemic, probably in the next 25 years,” he continued.
Bill Gates: Gaps in impact preparedness
When he saw the lack of preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates joined the “club” of scientists who expressed fears about how the world would fare if another global emergency swept through the population.
In 2022, Gates wrote a book on “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” which examined shortcomings in preparedness to deal with the effects of widespread diseases, such as improved quarantine techniques and investments in vaccine research, according to the report.
“The country that the world expected to lead and be a role model has not lived up to those expectations,” he wrote, referring to the United States. However, treatments and preventive measures – as well as increased natural immunity – have followed the struggles of full hospital beds, shortages of ventilators and the loss of millions worldwide.
Bill Gates: What experts say about infectious diseases
Infectious disease experts have since weighed the chances of a new pandemic occurring in the near future. Although the origin of the coronavirus remains disputed, experts insist that a pathogen could eventually jump from animals to humans and cause a new disease.
Monkey pox and bird flu have already made headlines as a potential threat. The Director-General of the World Health Organization declared in August that monkeypox, which is spread through close contact or the sharing of objects such as towels and bedding, is a “public health emergency of international concern”.
#Bill #Gates #experience #war #pandemic #years
