It's hard to dismiss global pandemics as a rare event, especially considering there were 3 outbreaks in the past 20 years alone. With the increase in globalisation and travel, new diseases are spreading faster and are becoming harder to contain even with tough quarantine measures. As we've seen with the COVID-19 coronavirus, the fast infection rate has caused massive government responses, shutdowns of entire cities in attempts to contain the infection and a race to find a cure. But what should people do if they want to decrease their risk of infection from global pandemics? Below, we outline 4 ways to improve your chances of staying healthy during global health emergency crises, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example.

If you don't know how a virus is spread, then the chances are high that you won't be able to properly protect yourself.