Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to generate timely and topical public debate on the threat of global pandemics. It offers an overview of the many origins and triggers of pandemic events and has a global scope, whilst at times zooming in on the implications of pandemic risk and mitigation for the Global North or the Global South. The book reviews the risk of global pandemics and their diverse origins. It discusses issues of continuity and discontinuity between outbreaks, and introduces political debates about global health governance today. The book also discusses how the risk of global pandemics is configured in the media, and how it is seen as always originating outside the West. It argues for the urgent need to tackle pandemic threats by working across disciplines and enabling public participation in contributing to decision-making.