WHO and partners have embarked in the journey of imagining the future of infectious threats. WHO is hosting a series of consultations convening world leaders and influencers from a variety of disciplines to discuss the future, look at global trends and build consensus on the collective actions that the global community can take to mitigate the ongoing and anticipated risks of COVID-19 and other infectious threats in the next 3 to 5 years. The overall of the objectives of the infectious hazards foresight initiative are to (i) facilitate a global debate around plausible scenarios; (ii) identify threats, opportunities, choices, and innovative solutions to strengthen epidemic and pandemic preparedness; and (iii) shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to address infectious threats.