Report on Pandemic Threat | 19 Sep 2019
According to a report released by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), the chances of a global pandemic are growing and the world is not prepared for the same.
- The report titled ‘A World At Risk’ has been authored by 15 global scientists and public health leaders, including India’s principal scientific advisor, Dr K Vijay Raghavan.
- It is co-convened by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- WHO tracked 1,483 epidemics in 172 countries between 2011 and 2018.
Key Findings
- Epidemic-prone diseases, such as influenza, Ebola, Zika, plague, yellow fever and others, are harbingers of a new era of high-impact, potentially fast-spreading outbreaks that are more frequently detected and increasingly difficult to manage.
- Reasons Behind frequency: Population growth, urbanisation, globally integrated economy, widespread and faster travel, conflict, migration and climate change.
- Possible Impact: A pandemic equivalent to the 1918 Spanish Flu could kill 80 million and wipe out nearly 5% of the global economy, devastating health systems and hitting low-resourced communities the hardest.
- Indian Context: India has handled the threats of Nipah and zoonotic influenza viruses quite well. However, the threat of a devastating pandemic looms large on the world and India remains highly vulnerable.
- Suggestions:
- Intergovernmental organisations, donors and multilateral institutions need to come together to strengthen funding mechanisms, information sharing and continuous monitoring.
- Multilateral financing organisations like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank need to integrate preparedness into replenishments, national and international financial risk assessments, incentive systems and funding mechanisms.
- Increasing country preparedness by
- raising funding,
- doing more research into new technologies, vaccines and medicines,
- establishing rapid communication systems,
- launching a coordinated government, industry and community response;
- and following through on international commitments.
- Investing in building a competent health system:
- Building high health system capability for prevention, effective surveillance, early detection and containment and appropriate management of any cases.
- This requires a sufficiently large and well-skilled health workforce with public health expertise and well-resourced health care infrastructure apart from robust health information systems that can provide early alerts.
Global Preparedness Monitoring Board
- Created in response to recommendations by the UN Secretary General’s Global Health Crises Task Force in 2017, the GPMB was co-convened by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group and formally launched in May 2018.
- It is an independent monitoring and accountability body to ensure preparedness for global health crises.
- Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.