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- [00:01]
A
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7am. More than five years on from COVID a new report has found the world is even more vulnerable to new pandemics than it was before. The report by a body linked to the World Health Organization has been released as the world grapples with Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks as well as one of Australia's worst diphtheria outbreaks on record. The report found that despite advances in vaccines, diagnostics, climate change, armed conflict and misinformation are undermining global preparedness. Today, Professor Sharon Lewin from the Doherty Institute on the risk of a large scale disease outbreak and what we should be doing to prepare for it. It's Tuesday, June 2nd. So, Sharon, a new report has just been released from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, which is linked to the world health organ. And that report, it warns that the world is now more vulnerable to major disease outbreaks than it was before COVID So talk to me a bit about this report and how it comes to that warning.
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B
Yeah, the report was a bit alarming actually, to read it. And they made a few points. They made the point that there has been more outbreaks, they have been more severe and with greater economic impact since COVID But probably the real one that really worries me is that there's less equity about access to tools to end those outbreaks, such as diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. We have learned a lot, of course, from COVID I think we are have. There's been a lot of scientific advances, but there's been a lot of changes in the world with regard to mistrust in government misinformation. AI it's increasingly hard, I think, for people to really understand facts and that's making it all very difficult. And at the same time, there are requirements for our global leaders to ensure equitable access to tools that we are developing, which requires partnerships across the world. And there's been big geopolitical changes as well that I think are impacting that.
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A
Okay, well I want to come back to some of those ideas that you've raised. But the report has landed as we've seen several very different outbreaks worldwide.
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The World Health Organization has declared an
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Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Health officials investigating the deadly outbreak of hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship quarantined off the coast of one of the worst outbreaks of diphtheria in Australian history. More than 130 cases have been confirmed in the NT, including one suspected death. These obviously aren't comparative threats, but do they belong in the same conversation?
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B
I think they do. When people think of a pandemic, they think Covid. And of course, that was like the pandemic of all pandemics. But outbreaks that have the potential to expand raise just as much concern. And it's your opportunity to have a really big impact by limiting the outbreak. So just imagine hantavirus, this new strand of hantavirus Andes that we saw on the cruise ship. Imagine that that hadn't been diagnosed and all those people went back to their various countries. Hantavirus has this really long incubation period, which means the time between exposure and the time of becoming unwell can be up to six weeks. And people are roaming around. They're in all. You know, you can just imagine the multiplier effect of this. So any outbreak that has the potential for broader pandemic spread is something that the world needs to care about and that is relevant for hantavirus, for ebola, and also diphtheria, because, you know, diphtheria is preventable through vaccination. And of course, we're seeing declining rates of vaccination, including here in Australia as well.
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A
Okay, can we talk a little more about the Ebola outbreak? I mean, this isn't the first outbreak, but it does seem like a particularly serious one. So can you tell me what. Why it is that global health authorities are so worried about what's happening in central Africa?
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B
We've known about ebola since the 70s, and nearly all outbreaks have been in central Africa, except for 2014, where we saw a large outbreak in west Africa. In west Africa, Ebola is now an epidemic of the likes that we have not seen before. It's spiraling out of control. It is getting worse. It's spreading faster and exponentially. Central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, are very familiar with ebola. However, these first cases happened in a remote area of the country, and it was from Australian Bundi bugo that wasn't picked up on the routine test for Ebola. So there was a bit of time before people actually understood what was happening. And when that happens, you get spread of the disease unchecked. Added to that, it's in an area that's under significant conflict, and therefore there isn't stable government to make big changes there. It's spreading to other areas, in other countries. Added to that, we don't have a vaccine or a therapeutic for this strain of Ebola. After the deadly Ebola outbreak, the number of cases and fatalities surging. Tonight, the Head of the World Health Organization, traveling to the epicenter of the outbreak. Just to put it in context, though, the outbreak in 2014, which was also in a difficult area, Western Africa, Sierra Leone and neighbouring countries that had fragile governments. You know, there was something like 14,000 people that were affected. At the moment, the reported cases are 900. It's probably bigger, but hasn't quite reached the scales that we saw in 2014. But so far, the World Health Organization has said this doesn't reach the benchmark, if you like, for a pandemic, let alone a global pandemic. They say this is a public health emergency of international concern, but it hasn't yet reached pandemic proportions.
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A
So there's no vaccine for Ebola, but there is for diphtheria. That's a vaccine preventable disease. It was once considered basically eradicated. We're seeing a return in Australia in remote parts of the country. Can you tell me a bit about why that is and what sort of this outbreak tells us about the vulnerabilities that we have here at home?
- [06:39]
B
Yeah, I think this is a good example as well of the intersection between science and socioeconomic factors that drive transmission of infectious diseases. So we have childhood vaccine against diphtheria, which is why we rarely see it. You know, up until recently, 95% of children across Australia were vaccinated, had had all of their vaccinations. And we're seeing this outbreak is in remote and large indigenous communities where vaccination uptake has been dropping. The Duteria vaccine prevents people from becoming sick from the bacteria, not actually acquiring the bacteria. So therefore, people can be carrying that bacteria in their nose and throats and spread it to people that are unvaccinated, and then those are the people that will get sick. So socioeconomic environments make a big impact because in lower socioeconomic groups, where you've got crowded housing, for example, is an ideal situation where you're going to have close contact and then transmission. So it's a combination of declining vaccination rates as well as the actual environment that are driving this outbreak in remote far north Australia.
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A
And so what role does misinformation play in all of this? What are you seeing?
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B
Yeah, I mean, I can't link it to misinformation, but declining vaccine rates is real. In Australia, declining vaccine rates in remote communities is real. The reasons for that are mixed. There's a combination of an element of misinformation, people no longer wanting to have vaccines or thinking vaccines cause adverse effects. We've saw that exploding during COVID And then there is, of course, communities that may not have access to medical or nursing or allied health support and so may not just be well educated about that. And that's something that we need to do more of. And the interviews that I've heard with indigenous leaders since the diphtheria outbreak are that their leadership are very impressive, wanting to make a difference and just wanting to make sure that we make these messages really simple so people understand what this means in Ebola. I think there clearly is some issues around misunderstanding of what's needed to curtail an outbreak. And we're seeing that with the anger from communities against the hospitals limiting what they can do with burials. I doubt it's misinformation. This is an issue of you've got to bring the community along with you. And how you might do that in DRC is probably different to how we might do that in, you know, inner Melbourne or remote Australia. But clearly there is a misunderstanding from the community about what's required.
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A
Coming up, Is Australia prepared for the next pandemic? Sharon After Covid, I think there was this strong hope that we'd never be caught out this way again. A pandemic won't be able to catch us unawares after we've all lived through the COVID years. So why do you think it is that we are now in this, it seems pretty vulnerable situation to the next outbreak.
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B
So infectious diseases are always going to come and go. Very few of them reach Covid levels, but it is always a possibility. And we're seeing these new outbreaks, whether it's Eboralla, Hantavirus, avian flu, continuing to occur. The second thing is that the science has really progressed. And so there's no doubt that many countries around the world, including Australia, have made a commitment to invest in the science to make sure that we have better detection methods, better data systems. It's largely what the new Australian CDC is working on. But in the end, the science only matters when you can implement it. And at the same time, since COVID we've seen these other changes with, and we always do worry about outbreaks in settings with fragile governments that don't either have the funding, don't have the trust, or there's elements of conflict and war. And that's a big driver here as well as Covid, having a lasting effect on people's trust in science and where they get their science, and a big change in the environment around misinformation, social media, AI, et cetera. We have closed the USAID group to Eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, which was tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. And we're working tirelessly to forge new economic opportunities involving both the United States and many African nations. There's great economic potential in Africa and
- [11:44]
A
as you mentioned, since COVID we've seen a lot of global partnerships fracture, a lot of political instability. The US withdrew its funding from the World Health Organization. And I wonder, in practical terms, what does that mean when an outbreak starts?
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B
That has had a very big impact on what we are able to do around the world, particularly in low and middle income countries. So we really rely on the WHO to mobilise resources and assist, whether it's in personal protective equipment, whether it's in diagnostic capabilities, public health messaging. So WHO, the US government, contributed to about 10% of the budget of the WHO, and that has ended and therefore that weakens that organisation. They are of course doing things currently in Democratic Republic Congo, but it would be at a reduced level with a reduced budget. At the same time, what is the most important thing for strengthening health systems is to have that capability on the ground, ready to mobilise when the time comes. And so countries like drc, Uganda and others in Central Africa have lost significant capability through the end of usaid. So USAID was the US government's arm to international development. There was many, many people located in those countries. They may have been working on other aspects of infectious diseases, particularly hiv, but they have the capability and tools to rapidly move from what they might be working on to a new outbreak. And that capability has really been eroded since the ending of usaid.
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A
So how prepared do you think Australia is at the moment and what do you think we need to do to make sure that we are more ready?
- [13:35]
B
Yeah, look, I think Australia has of course, a very, very good public health system and it's been strengthened with the addition of the Centre for Disease control, the Australian CDC, that opened on 1 January 2026, and with a goal to provide far enhanced coordination of our response to initially infectious diseases, communicable diseases, and eventually they will move on to non communicable diseases. At the same time, there's been other investments, such as in MRNA manufacturing capabilities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. There's been investment in the science through initiatives like the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, based here at the Doherty Institute. But that is all happening, what's happening in our borders. And this is actually a global challenge, not an individual country challenge. So, sure, every country has to be prepared and we are prepared to diagnose the first case of Ebola. In fact, we had a query case just last week of a gentleman who had been in Uganda. And it was rapid. The alarm bells are rapidly raised. The testing was done. It was proved the person did not have Ebola. But we do have that capability. But we need to do more than that because we're surrounded by countries that have far weaker health systems. And I do see that as a really important role of high income countries to work in partnership with low and middle income countries to make sure there's ability to stop these outbreaks at their source.
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A
Well, Sharon, thank you so much for speaking with me today.
- [15:16]
B
Thank you, Ruby. Pleasure.
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A
Also in the news, Pauline Hanson has claimed that she has the ability to lead Australia as prime minister following a poll that puts one nation as the most popular political party in the country. The poll conducted by the Redbridge Group and Accent Research and published yesterday in the Australian Financial Review puts Labor's primary vote at 28% and support for One Nation at 31%. However, labor still leads One Nation at 51% to 49% on a two party preferred basis. And the UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting after the Israeli army expanded its operations in Lebanon and seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle in the country's south. The meeting was called at the request of France, with the French foreign minister stating there was no justification for extending Israel's military actions and deepening occupation in Lebanese territory. It comes amid intensified airstrikes and shelling by Israeli forces in Lebanon as international warnings grow about the humanitarian consequences for civilians and the country's infrastructure. I'm Ruby Jones. This is 7:00am thanks for listening.