The world is not prepared for the next major outbreak, according to a new report.
195 countries are ranked according to their capacity to respond to epidemics and Pandemics in the Global Health Security Index released on Wednesday. The first version of the index concluded that no nation was ready for a crisis like Covid-19.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security nonprofit group, and the John'sHopkins Center for Health Security at the University of Baltimore created the 2021 index, which shows that the world is not any better prepared today.
Dr. Rick Bright, the chief executive of the Rockefeller Foundation's Pandemic Prevention Institute, was not involved in creating the index. The world is not ready.
The report found that more than 90 percent of countries don't have a plan for distributing vaccines during an emergency, while 70 percent don't have enough capacity in hospitals, clinics and health centers. Public confidence in government is declining as political and security risks increase.
The report found that many nations have poured resources into addressing the Covid-19 crisis, but few have made dedicated investments to improve emergency preparedness.
The places where improvements for Covid were made were documented in the report.
She said that unless political leaders act to ensure that what we have worked hard to develop in the midst of Covid doesn't just erode after the event is over, we could find ourselves back where we started.
The researchers rated each country on a variety of factors, including their health care systems, workforces, laboratories, supply chains, infrastructure, trust in government and more. Each nation was given a score from 0 to 100.
The average score was roughly the same as the previous year's average, and no country broke into the top tier.
The United States retained its position as the top ranked country in the index, with a score of 75.9, followed by Australia, Canada, and Thailand.
The top ranking surprised some experts, who thought the response to the Pandemic was a failure.
Dr. Emanuel was a member of President Biden's Covid-19 Advisory Board during the transition between presidential administrations. I don't think that's a credible ranking.
The index was designed to measure the tools and resources that a nation has at its disposal, but could not predict how effectively those resources would be used in an emergency.
She said that even if it exists on paper, it doesn't mean it will function.
The report noted that the United States had the lowest public confidence in the government. Financial barriers to health care and fewer hospital beds per capita in high-income countries could compromise the ability of the United States to respond to future emergencies. Dr. Nuzzo said that missing capacity could be a problem.
The assessment that the world was not ready for another Pandemic was agreed with by Rebecca Katz, who directs the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. She was not surprised that the scores had not improved.
The doctor said that we are still in the middle of a Pandemic. Everything is on fire. There hasn't been a lot of long-term building.
The report recommends that countries review their performance in the current Pandemic and include funding for health security in their national budgets.
Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, the founding director of the Boston University Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research, said that it might be smart to focus on elements of pandemic preparedness that go beyond technical capacities and capabilities.
She said that we need to think about our ability to sustain healthy communities. When there is a crisis, it is important for communities to know how well they are managing everyday business.
