The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum—to be held in Davos, Switzerland, next week—is on more radars than usual this year, as one of the sessions: “Preparing for Disease X.” will be included in the agenda .
“Disease X” represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease.”, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO Head, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, will speak at the event, in addition to Michel Demaré, chair of the board of AstraZeneca , Brazil Minister of Health Nisia Trindade Lima, and Jamil Edmond Anderlini, Editor in Chief of Politico Europe.
The run-of-the-mill pandemic preparation session was blown out of proportion late this week, leading to the phrase “Disease X” trending on social media platforms.
The WHO maintains a list of “priority pathogens” that “pose the greatest public health risk due to their epidemic potential and/or whether there are no, or insufficient, countermeasures” available.
