Moncef Slaoui

Infectious Diseases: Staying One Step Ahead

Michael Gerson, Michael Kurilla, Vanina Laurent-Ledru, Pranav Shetty, Moncef Slaoui

Experts including Vanina Laurent Ledru of Sanofi Pasteur and Monsef Slaoui of GSK advocate shifting global health strategy from reactive outbreak response to proactive prevention to counter drivers like climate change and increased mobility. Leveraging platform technologies and industrial-scale manufacturing, the industry aims to bypass the traditional decade-long vaccine development cycle for threats such as Ebola, Zika, and pandemic flu while addressing critical gaps in local infrastructure and surveillance. Despite improvements in specific regions, the panel concludes that long-term consistency in funding and international cooperation is essential to prevent future crises from overwhelming fragile health systems.