Date & Time: April 13, 2021 at 10AM – 11AM EST (3PM – 4PM Cameroon)
Venue: Zoom Platform (Register Here)

1. Background

The world was caught unprepared by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the loss of 2.4million lives worldwide and poses an unparalleled threat to public health, food supply, and economic systems. The economic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic have devastated large and small countries alike. Even prosperous nations with well-equipped and managed healthcare systems were not spared.

Despite growing calls for pandemic preparedness and biodefense from leaders including Bill Gates and the US first Secretary for Homeland Security Tom Ridge, COVID-19 revealed how ill-prepared the world is to combat a pandemic. It is not too early to draw lessons from this lack of preparation and global coordination. Not only will doing so aid current recovery efforts, but it would also increase readiness for the next communicable or vector-borne disease to threaten the world.
Questions such as how the world will prepare for the next inevitable pandemic and what needs to be done to reduce the likelihood of future pandemics are at the forefront of many people’s minds. The Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank at the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, intends to deliberate on how to prepare for the next pandemic with a focus on lessons learned from COVID-19 in this wide-ranging conversation with key public health experts.

2. Objectives:

This conversation’s main objective is to distil lessons from this painful experience so that the world is better positioned to cope with potential future waves of the current pandemic and avoid disaster when the next one strikes. This event will

• Evaluate the various measures already put in place to curb the spread that can be replicated.
• What are the possible loopholes?
• Evaluate the proposed solutions.
• Analyse the challenges faced in implementing some of the COVID-19 measures enacted

3. Expected Results:

At the end of the conversation, we expect that participants will have a better understanding of:

• Lessons learnt from COVID-19-what worked and what didn’t work.
• Effective emergency preparedness strategies for future outbreaks

4. Date and Venue

April 13th, 2021 at 10AM EST (3PM Cameroon) Event will be held on ZOOM (Register) and streamed live

5. Panelists / Moderator

Dr. Mwenya Kasonde

Global Health consultant (USAID, UNICEF & WHO)

Dr. Yele Aluko MD, MBA

Chief Medical Officer – EY Americas

Director of the Health Policy and Research Program – Nkafu Policy Institute

Dr Denis Foretia (Moderator)
Executive Chairman – Nkafu Policy Institute and Co-Chair – Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation

6. Participants

The event will bring together public policy experts, policy makers at the national, continental and international levels, leaders of civil society organizations, economists, leaders of NGOs and international organizations. It will be open to the general public with a session for Q&A.