Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World and How to Stop the Next One

Professor Devi Sridhar has risen to prominence for her vital roles in communicating science to the public and speaking truth to power. In Preventable she highlights lessons learned from outbreaks past and present in a narrative that traces the COVID-19 pandemic - including her personal experience as a scientist - and sets out a vision for how we can better protect ourselves from the inevitable health crises to come. In gripping and heartfelt prose, Sridhar exposes the varied realities of those affected and puts you in the room with key decision makers at crucial moments. She vibrantly conveys the twists and turns of a plot that saw: deadlier variants emerge (contrary to the predictions of social media pundits who argued it would mutate to a milder form); countries with weak health systems like Senegal and Vietnam fare better than countries like the US and UK (which were consistently ranked as the most prepared); and the quickest development of game-changing vaccines in history (and their unfair distribution).

Devi Sridhar is Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh. She has served as a policy advisor for the WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO and the Scottish, UK and German governments. Devi writes for the Guardian and regularly appears on broadcast media. This is her first book for a general readership.