Infographic – Not Ready for Next Pandemic

Click on image for full-size view (Statista)

18 Dec. 2021. If the news about Covid-19 and the omicron variant is getting you down, don’t even think about preventing the world’s next pandemic. The Global Health Security Index for this year shows the world as a whole is not taking meaningful steps to prepare for future health emergencies, with even the richest nations vulnerable in some respects. The business research company Statista summarized the data in a chart displayed earlier this month.

The Global Health Security Index says it’s a comprehensive assessment of public health preparedness across 195 countries, compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in the university’s school of public health. Each nation is rated on 37 variables, grouped into six categories, on their readiness for the next zoonotic disease, one that jumps from animals to humans as done by SARS-CoV-2.. The team compiling the index says it collects the data from open or public sources.

The index calculations show on a scale of 1 to 100, the world achieves a score of only 28.4 in preventing future pandemics. The authors note that 113 of the 195 countries surveyed are currently paying little or no attention to future zoonotic diseases. Two other particularly weak factors revealed by the index are the state of the countries’ internal health sectors, along with early detection and reporting capabilities, which are rated worldwide at 31.5 and 32.3 respectively.

Overall, the index rates worldwide risk and vulnerability at 55.8 out of 100, with an average score of 38.9 for each country. Moreover, the authors found no country fully prepared for the next pandemic. Nonetheless, say the authors, many countries quickly responded to Covid-19, and can make permanent the steps taken against the current pandemic threat.

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