Giving Compass' Take:

• Global Citizen analyzes the threats of infectious diseases and discusses Dr. Jonathan Quick's seven sets of concrete actions that can be used to effectively fight epidemics.

• Knowing that the next infectious disease could kill over 300 million people, are we doing enough to fund research in this area? Which organizations have been doing the most impactful work? 

• Immunization is vital to win the war against disease.

Ebola. Smallpox. Influenza. AIDS.

These are just some of the highly contagious epidemics that have engulfed communities and countries all across the world, wreaking true havoc on the global economy and leaving millions of lives destroyed.

Experts have long claimed that the next big infectious diseases outbreak is overdue. Moreover, increased globalization, deforestation, climate change, and terrorism mean the impact of a new epidemic would be larger than ever before. Bill Gates announced at the beginning of this year “that an outbreak of a disease like the flu virus that swept the world in 1918 could today kill 33 million people within a six-month time span.”

However, according to Dr. Jonathan Quick, massive global pandemics could be a thing of the past.

In his new book The End of Epidemics, the Harvard Medical School faculty member and chair of the Global Health Council presents a comprehensive seven-part plan, which, if followed, allows health experts, political leaders, and everyday citizens to detect and block the global spread of infectious diseases.

"We can end epidemics with a big call to action on seven sets of concrete actions,” Quick told Global Citizen. “These actions have been proven over a century of epidemic response.”

Read the full article about the next infectious disease by Madeleine Keck at Global Citizen.