Five years to the day since the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic, leading public health and infectious disease experts have expressed grave concerns that Australia isn't prepared for the next health emergency.
Experts from the Public Health Association of Australia and Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases have united today on the anniversary of the WHO's declaration and ahead of the 2025 Federal Election to encourage all political parties to commit to investing in public health, including establishing a permanent Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, CEO, Public Health Association of Australia, says that the WHO's official declaration of pandemic on 11 March 2020 was a pivotal moment in world history that changed daily life for every person in Australia.
"The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented worldwide event that affected all of us. For many of us it was a stressful, dark and uncertain time, and it's no surprise that five years on many Australians want to move on. Although overall Australia did well, we can't afford to forget the challenges we faced and lessons we learnt. Many fear we are less, not more prepared for a similar outbreak should it occur now."
During the 2022 election campaign Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised to establish a permanent Australian CDC to help Australia prepare for future pandemics. It would provide a central source of information and expert advice, as well as helping tackle other health challenges.
While public health experts have welcomed the Albanese Government's establishment of an interim CDC, the body isn't currently expected to be permanently launched until 1 January 2026. With an election looming, experts are seeking commitments from all sides of politics to enhance our pandemic preparedness.
"Five years on from the pandemic declaration, Australians would expect that we should be better prepared for the next threat.
"In the lead up to COVID-19, we had SARS, swine flu and MERS. Now we have avian influenza, Mpox, and Japanese encephalitis.
"It's a matter of when, not if, the next health emergency will occur. It is vital that we move to a permanent and properly resourced CDC as soon as possible," says Professor Allen Cheng AC, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University.
Professor Joseph Doyle, President, Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases is also calling for more work now to prepare for future pandemics.
"As a nation, we have failed to fully capitalise on lessons learned during the last pandemic and build institutions to lead public health responses in future.
"We need to ensure the interim CDC transforms into a well-resourced, transparently governed, expert and evidence-based permanent CDC to prepare us for emerging threats, and ongoing public health challenges that occur every day."
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin added, "The interim Centre for Disease Control is the first step towards the roadmap outlined in the COVID-19 Response Inquiry report. Already some things are better. Its new OneHealth division is working closely across governments to monitor avian influenza, and they have an ambitious plan for surveillance data. But it will take a lot more to strengthen systems to respond more coherently to the next pandemic.
"We are very concerned that in the past five years we have seen both Federal and State Governments move resources away from vital public health services that we relied on during the pandemic's peak. Across the country, decisionmakers are putting more money into acute care and hospitals and away from initiatives that protect the health and wellbeing of our communities. Without a well-resourced public and preventive health sector, who will we call on when the next outbreak occurs?"
Ahead of the Federal Election, the Public Health Association of Australia is calling for the next Federal Government to:
• Establish a permanent Australian Centre for Disease Control • Invest in prevention to save lives and money • Act on obesity to help more Australians maintain a healthy weight • Invest in First Nations people's health to close the gap • Protect our health by acting on climate change • Reform gambling so people lose less • Introduce universal oral health care through Medicare
