By Gordon Brown, WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 
Five million lives worldwide have already been lost to COVID, and WHO and ACT-Accelerator grimly predict another 5 million more lives will be lost in months to come. Alarmingly also, COVID cases will swell from the 260 million deaths confirmed so far to 460 million by the end of 2022.
Considering the trillions of dollars of trade lost due to COVID – an estimated US$9 trillion, the US$10 billion a year budget for pandemic prevention and preparedness, deemed necessary by the G20’s high-level independent panel,  would offer one of the greatest returns on investment in history.  But we must act now – and this week’s World Health Assembly is the place to start – if we are to be prepared for all future eventualities. 
 
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