Are we prepared for the next epidemic?

Too often, the conventional wisdom in diplomatic or scientific circles is that the general public doesn't know what's good for them when it comes to foreign policy or tackling global threats. It's too complicated, the experts say; the public wouldn't understand. Yet new polling suggests that many in the public understand very well how global infectious disease outbreaks pose a serious threat to their lives and economic security – and they know what should be done about it.

A opinion research survey commissioned by the World Bank Group with 4,000 respondents across five industrialised countries - France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States - found that most people are not convinced the world, or their own country, is prepared for the next global epidemic.