The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed December 27 the “International Day of Epidemic Preparedness.” A year into the global battle against the coronavirus, the international body hopes the designation will help strengthen global measures against and preparedness for future health crises. As exemplified by the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic major infectious diseases and epidemics have devastating impacts on human lives, wreaking havoc on long-term social and economic development. Global health crises threaten to overwhelm already overstretched health systems, disrupt global supply chains, and cause disproportionate devastation of the livelihoods of people, including women and children, and the economies of the poorest and most vulnerable countries.

Although the Philippines ranked well above the average score worldwide for many of the GHS Index indicators, one area the archipelago notably lacked was risk environment. Under this category, political and security risks notched a score of 39.3 out of a worldwide average of 60.4, while infrastructure adequacy was ranked 33.3 out of 49.0 and public health vulnerabilities scored 41.4 out of 46.9. The epidemiology workforce indicator of the detection and reporting category scored 25 out of 42.3. Alarmingly, the country scored 0 in linking public health and security authorities, communications with healthcare workers during a public health emergency, dual-use research and culture of responsible science, bioscience, and joint external evaluations and performance of veterinary services. We could see these weaknesses with the ongoing COVID-19.

In October last year, a study by The Economist showed that the Philippines placed 53rd out of 195 examined countries when it comes to global health security capabilities while adding that no nation in the world is sufficiently prepared for the next pandemic adding that “National health security is fundamentally weak around the world,” the first Global Health Security (GHS) Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit said Friday. “No country is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics, and every country has important gaps to address.” The summary was based on a number of healthcare indicators which included prevention, detection and reporting, rapid response, robustness of health systems, compliance with international norms and risk environment. There is an urgent need to have resilient and robust health systems, reaching those who are vulnerable or in vulnerable situations.

In the event of the absence of international attention, future epidemics could surpass previous outbreaks in terms of intensity and gravity. There is great need of raising awareness, the exchange of information, scientific knowledge and best practices, quality education, and advocacy programs on epidemics at the local, national, regional and global levels as effective measures to prevent and respond to epidemics.

It is important to strengthen epidemic prevention by applying lessons learned on epidemic management and how to prevent the stoppage of basic services, and to raise the level of preparedness in order to have the earliest and most adequate response to any epidemic that may arise,and recognizing also the value of an integrated One Health approach that fosters integration of human health, animal health and plant health, as well as environmental and other relevant sectors.

We need to recognize the primary role and responsibility of Governments and the indispensable contribution of relevant stakeholders in tackling global health challenges, especially women, who make up the majority of the world’s health workers. Leaders in the government should take steps to improve and operationalize linkages between public health and security bodies. There must be provision of more financing mechanisms from both the public and private sector to address existing preparedness gaps. A regular measurement, assessment and testing of existing mechanisms and future measures taken in dealing epidemics must be documented and drawing lessons learned for future planning on epidemic preparedness. #LeoChristianLauzon