Make health systems ready for pandemics

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a “public health emergency of international concern”. That March, it was declared a global pandemic.

First reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, the coronavirus went on to spread across the world, wrecking havoc of unprecedented scale. It has killed more than seven million people so far while many more are battling it.

However, over the past year, the number of infections and deaths has been on a steep decline as the larger proportion of the global population has built immunity against it.

Preventive measures such as use of masks, testing and other public health guidelines that were a lifeline at the height of the pandemic are no longer a strict requirement.

Further, Covid-19 restrictions such as lockdown and isolation are now considered a thing of the past. This is what most strongly prompted WHO to declare the end of Covid-19 as a global health emergency.

Nevertheless, new infections are being reported and the virus is still mutating. Therefore, the WHO declaration does not mean the virus has been wiped out; it means that humanity has now mounted a capacity to deal with it.

When Covid-19 emerged, the global health system—including the health workers, functional infrastructure, technologies and medical supplies—was caught unawares. It became overstretched and outrun as the number of infections and deaths spiralled.

Over time, however, countries started developing resilience by establishing response and recovery measures to contend with the pandemic. This included expanding hospitals and other healthcare centres, embracing modern technologies, development and sharing of new vaccines and other supplies, employing and training more health workers.

These measures have been crucial in changing the trajectory of the pandemic to a downward slope, culminating to the WHO declaration.

As the focus now shifts from Covid-19, it is imperative for global community not rest on its laurel, instead strive to strengthen the existing health systems to manage emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Preparedness for future pandemics should continue to be a top agenda in public health policy-making engagements.

History tells us that Covid-19 is not the last pandemic and that it is not a matter of if but when the next will strike. This calls for continuous investment in technologies to spur novel vaccine and drug development and surveillance and forecasting to identify and arrest infectious diseases quickly.

With increased globalisation, there is a need to bolster international systems even beyond healthcare to cooperate and solve common problems, even in extreme circumstances.

- Dr Kerima is a biochemist. [email protected]. @KerimaZablon