News outlets discuss findings from a report of the National Academy of Medicine’s Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future (GHRF Commission), as well as summary reports from four evidence-gathering workshops that informed the commission.

Bloomberg Business: A Billion in Pandemic Prevention Is Worth a Trillion in Cure
“…Pandemics … could cost humanity $6 trillion in the 21st century, or $60 billion a year, the authors estimate. They argued for investing $4.5 billion a year — or 65 cents for every resident of the planet — to prepare…” (Tozzi, 1/13).

CIDRAP News: Pandemic readiness review says $4.5 billion a year needed
“…The experts released their findings [Wednesday] at a briefing in New York City and published them on the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Web site, along with a related overview in [Wednesday’s] New England Journal of Medicine…” (Schnirring, 1/13).

CNBC: Pandemics are $60 billion-a-year global risk: Report
“…Despite advances in disease research and medicine, disease researchers and public health experts believe the risks of pandemics are growing as the world becomes more connected through travel, trade, and communication…” (Ferris, 1/13).

Financial Times: Fund of $4.5bn proposed for protection against pandemics
“…The biggest component of the investment would be $3.4bn to upgrade public health infrastructure and capabilities in poorer countries. A further $1bn a year would go to research and development in infectious diseases. The remaining $150m or so would strengthen the World Health Organization…” (Cookson, 1/13).

NPR: Stinging Report On Pandemics Makes Louis Pasteur Look Like A Prophet
“…The commission of 17 public health officials from around the globe sums it up this way: ‘A range of factors, including increasing population, economic globalization, environmental degradation, and ever increasing human interaction around the globe are changing the dynamics of infectious disease’…” (Beaubien, 1/13).

Reuters: Preparing for pandemics could cost less than $1 each a year, review says
“…The Wellcome Trust co-funded the review, which was coordinated by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and several other organizations…” (Kelland, 1/13).

Science: Health panel: Pump new billions into disease outbreaks — or else
“…The 26 recommendations in the report, The Neglected Dimension of Global Security, overlap a great deal with the conclusions of other recent reports, including one published by what’s known as the Harvard-LSHTM panel in The Lancet 28 November and another issued in July 2015 by an independent group of experts convened by the WHO…” (Cohen, 1/13).

Wall Street Journal: Health Experts Call for $4.5 Billion Annually to Fight Pandemics
“…The report sets deadlines for implementation of many of its recommendations. ‘The recommendations they make are actually deliverable,’ said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation in the U.K. Dr. Farrar was a member of an international oversight group for the report…” (McKay, 1/13).