This nonprofit is helping communities stop pandemics in their tracks
By Catherine Cheney
COVID-19 put a spotlight on the need to prepare for pandemics. But Ending Pandemics — whose name refers to preventing future pandemics — has long been partnering with communities and governments worldwide to report on unusual events in humans, animals, and the environment to stop outbreaks. COVID-19 has led to growing interest in its work to change how countries detect and respond to pandemics.
“If you’ve never heard about us for the decade we've been working to get people focused on prevention, and now you're hearing about us in the middle of COVID-19, it sounds like our mission is to end COVID-19,” said Mark Smolinski, an infectious disease physician and president at Ending Pandemics. “Now we have the challenge of getting people to refocus on the fact that we still have to be ready to prevent the next pandemic.”
Ending Pandemics makes a five-year commitment to any country it enters, works directly with communities, and ensures a path for the government to ultimately take the reins.
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Because most emerging diseases are zoonotic — jumping from animals to humans — the organization takes a “one health” approach, which brings together disciplines focused on people, animals, plants, and their shared environments. Ending Pandemics partners across sectors in its efforts to prevent, detect, and predict outbreaks.
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