Pandemics have traditionally suffered from a panic–neglect cycle. Quiet periods see no action, early warnings of an outbreak tend to be overlooked, significant response and funding are late and uncoordinated, and valuable lessons from the crisis are not institutionalized.
Successive editions of The Global Risks Report have recognized the challenges brought by disease-related risks and sought to raise awareness.
Stressing the need for greater global collaboration, the 2016 edition recognized that the Ebola crisis would “not be the last serious epidemic the world faces” and that “public health outbreaks are likely to become ever more complex and challenging”.

The 2020 report featured a chapter on stretched health systems and pointed out fundamental weaknesses in pandemic preparedness across the world. The subsequent pandemic has further highlighted the necessity for more fundamental investment in health and revealed the need for greater investment in other socio-economic priorities.