In late December, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in central China, sparking a pandemic known as COVID-19 that has spread worldwide.
COVID-19 is likely to have severe health and economic consequences in the developing world, with repercussions that are difficult to anticipate, and to put considerable stress on global food systems.
It was estimated in 2016 (and has since been proven) that the cost of future pandemics could be in the same order as those of climate change. Yet funding for managing pandemic diseases receives only a fraction of that put toward managing a warming globe.
The provision of proactive, risk-based animal health services is a crucial investment in the battle against human disease plagues.
ILRI is one of fifteen scientific research centres known as CGIAR that are working for a food-secure future in developing countries.