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Risk Management Article
February 10, 2020

The Outbreak of Coronavirus Leaves the World Unprepared to Face This Emergency

The recent outbreak of the Coronavirus that started from China and is gradually spreading across the whole world, took the lives of hundreds of people as of early February 2020. Hence, this has left the countries of the world unprepared and in a state of panic as this outbreak could turn into a potential pandemic. The Global Health Security Index recently provided more details regarding the 195 nations that are prepared to battle this health emergency, which could potentially put the world’s global economy in chaos.

The main idea of this report is that the health security on a national basis is essentially weak all over the world; hence, the countries of the world are not completely prepared to handle extreme disease disaster. However, certain countries, majority of them being from the more developed side, are better equipped than the others.

The Global Health Security Index

Source: Global Health Security (GHS) Index

According to the recent index that was released in the month of October, there are thirteen countries that are in their ‘Most Prepared’ section. The United States is at the top, the United Kingdom is in second place, followed by the Netherlands. The fifth place belongs to Canada, and France has the eleventh place.

The seven countries in the index’s ‘More Prepared’ section consist of Germany in the fourteenth place, Japan in the twenty-first place, and Italy at the thirty-first place. Furthermore, China is at the fifty-first place and India is on the fifty-seventh. According to the analysis, the African nations aren’t equipped properly; hence, they are in the index’s ‘Least Prepared’ section.

This index is a collaborative project between The Economist Intelligence Unit, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The countries are evaluated based on six categories:

  1. Preventing the emergency or release of the pathogens.
  2. Quickly detecting and reporting the epidemics that can result in potential international chaos.
  3. Quick response and alleviating the potential spread of that epidemic.
  4. Strong and adequate health system that can treat sick individuals and keep the health workers protected.
  5. Sticking to the global customs, committing to improve the national capacity, and financing plans in order to tackle gaps.
  6. The overall risk in the country and its vulnerability to handle biological threats.