How to strengthen global health security?

Infectious disease outbreaks, if not detected and treated in time, become a serious global health threat in terms of economy and lives lost. Though the world’s health leaders promised to mount a better response at the next health emergencies, the promises come with a false sense of security. As a matter of fact, the world is still not as prepared as it is expected to be to prevent or face it. Three major public health emergencies of global importance were declared by the World health Organization since 2009 – outbreaks of influenza A (H1N1) in 2009, Ebola in West Africa in 2014, and Zika in the Americas in 2015.  

In order to protect national health security from global health threats, the international health regulations (IHR) came into play in 2007. IHR is a legally binding agreement with 196 state parties to develop and maintain the core capacity to ascertain, assess, alert and act to the public health threats, especially those of global concern. With the aim of accelerating progress towards IHR compliance, the United States along with 30 member countries launched the global health security agenda (GHSA) in 2014 which now includes more than 60 countries.
Nonetheless, a lot of challenges come in the way of achieving global health security which makes it an unfinished journey. Lack of consistent global surveillance capabilities, variances in national legal and regulatory frameworks that hinder response during a public health emergency are a few to mention. Further to fill these gaps and strengthen global health security, four priorities have been set forth by National Health Security Strategy (NHSS) which are supported by the United States Government in collaboration with various global and local partners which includes member countries, NGO’s, academia and private sector. Actions to support the priorities include implementation of the IHR 2005 and global public health capacity building, disease detection, prevention of spread of public health threats and diseases and public health emergencies of international concern.
Ultimately, the global health security depends on IHR compliance by all countries and hence remains unachieved. Although there have been appreciable accomplishments through the initial years of GHSA implementation, there is quite a lot that still needs to be strengthened. Also the gap between smart solutions and the political action need to be narrowed down to achieve better results.

Healthcare Management Jobs

We need trained workforce to manage the health infrastructure and healthcare systems to prevent and combat infectious disease epidemics and natural calamities. Many online training programs are available to train people in public health and healthcare management. James Lind Institute (JLI) provides various healthcare management courses and builds career opportunities with NGO’s, government agencies, consulting firms, healthcare units, academia and research institutes.
For more details on health management program structure, eligibility and career opportunities please visit: www.jli.edu.com