Providing Effective Ways of Fighting Highly Infectious Diseases

Background

In the 21st century with the technological and medical advances, battling infectious diseases has become much easier and more effective; however, there is always the risk of an outbreak and the spread of a disease, which could eventually lead to a pandemic.

There have been many wide-spread pandemics, which have caused many deaths, such as the Black Death of 1347 to 1352, which killed 25 million in Europe over 5 years, the introduction of smallpox, measles, and typhus to the areas of Central and South America by European explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries, the influenza epidemic 1556 (or the Spanish Flu 1918), tuberculosis, and now the Ebola virus, which was first isolated in 1976 during outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Southern Sudan.

Causes

It is believed that increased global travel is the reason for the recent resurgence of many infectious diseases in the United States, the United Kingdom and many other countries. However, international travel obviously also affects the spread of an infectious disease. The number of people traveling internationally is increasing every year, and more people are taking trips to remote parts of the world, which often have unfamiliar health problems as well as underdeveloped health care services. Many travelers are also unaware of potential hazards in different parts of the world and do not take the necessary precautions, such as getting necessary vaccines or preventive medicine. Many of the newly discovered infections have actually been in existence for a long time, but physicians have not seen them in areas where new outbreaks occur. With people's ability today to travel anywhere in the world within 36 hours or less, formerly little-known infections are picked up and rapidly spread to areas where they previously did not exist.

Organizations

Today, there exist many organizations that fight infectious diseases and provide health care. One of the main ones is The World Health Organization (WHO). It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group.

With the outbreak and spread of the virus (only 47% survival rate), measures must be taken before it turns into a pandemic. At the moment, Dr Roberto Morales Ojeda, Minister of Public Health, has announced that Cuba will send a medical team of 165 people to Sierra Leone to help in the frontline in the Ebola response efforts. WHO has also issued a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in west Africa. The roadmap aims to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6-9 months while rapidly managing the consequences of any further international spread. It also recognizes the need to address, in parallel, the outbreak’s broader socioeconomic impact.

The WHO Report on Global Surveillance of Epidemic-prone Infectious Diseases focuses on the analysis and interpretation of data collected by WHO on the surveillance of infectious epidemic diseases, the strengths and weaknesses of the data, and how the data can be used and interpreted.

· WHO has long-term data on many epidemic infectious diseases. WHO also has the mandate to lead and coordinate the international effort in global surveillance and response.

· The data collected serve many purposes. First, the data are used to alert health officials when there is an epidemic of infectious disease. For diseases that spread rapidly, and that have high case fatality rates if left untreated, timeliness is of utmost important. Since the data are collected over a long period of time, they can also be used to provide a general picture of long-term trends in incidence and case fatality rates.

· The data have many weaknesses. Countries are hesitant to report diseases covered by the International Health Regulations, in part for fear of economic consequences, and its effects on tourism and trade. In addition, for many diseases there is gross underreporting, under diagnosis, and delayed reporting. The quality of reporting varies considerably from country to country. Finally, international data are not completely comparable as reporting systems, case definitions, and the quality and availability of laboratory facilities vary from country to country.

· Despite these caveats, WHO data can provide a global picture of trends in epidemic infectious disease and case fatality rates over a relatively long period of time.

Finances and Policies – Solutions

One of the most important issues concerning health care and stopping the spread of disease is the inaccessibility of medicine. In many countries medicines account for over half of total health expenditures and are often unavailable and unaffordable to consumers who need them. Up to 90% of the population in developing countries still buys medicines through out-of-pocket payments (direct outlays of cash which may be later reimbursed), and are often exposed to the risk of catastrophic expenditure.

Equitable access to quality pharmaceuticals is an essential component of health system strengthening and primary health care reform, particularly in low- and lower-middle income countries. Sustainable and efficient financing of medicines and affordable prices are therefore essential to ensuring access to medicines, and are two of the building blocks in the WHO access to medicines framework.

WHO has also established a Health Policy. Health policy refers to decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society. An explicit health policy can achieve several things: it defines a vision for the future which in turn helps to establish targets and points of reference for the short and medium term. It outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups; and it builds consensus and informs people. Another very important policy would be the Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy, which helps establish affordable prices on medications and medical care.

The prevention of outbreaks is vital to the survival of the human race, and to stop pandemics financial aid is needed. Not only must we fund the development of cures to existing diseases and invest into the research of developing infectious illnesses, we must also ensure that the society has access to proper medical care.

Useful Links:

WHO – Report on Global Surveillance of Epidemic-prone Infectious Diseases http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/introduction/en/

Date: 2014-12-21; view: 1291