19/07/2026
This Sunday, two teams play a final that lasts 90 minutes. Neither earned its place that day — they earned it over four years of qualifiers, in matches most of the world never watched.
A country's readiness for an outbreak works the same way. The response is what makes the news, but the ability to detect a disease early is built long before any emergency: health workers trained, testing networks in place, partnerships formed while there's still no crisis demanding them.
One cannot qualify during the final, and one cannot build detection capacity mid-outbreak. That's why decentralised molecular testing belongs in the health system before a threat arrives, not after.