EHS-COVID (502) Global Health Security Index

8 December, 2021

The 2021 GHS Index launches today https://www.ghsindex.org/2021launch/ . It 'measures the capacities of 195 countries to prepare for epidemics and pandemics. All countries remain dangerously unprepared for future epidemic and pandemic threats, including threats potentially more devastating than COVID-19.'

The Index shows that no country in the world is fully prepared for future pandemic or epidemic threats.

It also shows that most of the world's least prepared countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. This aligns with our previous observations on HIFA that disruptions to essential health services in sub-Saharan Africa have been disproportionate to the relatively small caseloads of COVID-19 as compared with Europe and the Americas. The implication is that a future pandemic (or future wave of the current pandemic) could be devastating for Africa in particular.

Best wishes, Neil

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org