part 3
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PolicyBriefingn1.docx|
Running head: GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY |
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GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY |
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Global Health Security
Student’s name
Institutional Affiliation
Importance of Global Health Security
Global health is key to the attainment of security and peace and is dependent upon maximum cooperation of not only individuals but the states as well. Physiopedia defines global health as a global perspective regarding public health, the suggestion of issues that are common across the world as well as collaboratively working in an effort to try to address and manage these issues. (Physiopedia, 2019). Every country has a responsibility for ensuring that its people are kept healthy. Only through this will the attainment of global health be attained.
There are issues of concern as far as global health is concerned. Refugees and migrants face a lot of challenges when it comes to accessing proper health care and living conditions (Nathe, 2018). This is posed by the communication barrier, unfamiliarity with the local health facilities, cultural differences among many other factors. This coupled with diverse other needs such as traumatization from those fleeing from warzones makes them vulnerable to heath threats that can wipe them away. It is upon the people to act to reduce this scourge and reduce unwanted deaths. This will be a drive towards the attainment of global health.
Acts of violence on health facilities and on people pose a threat to global health. Deliberate actions by war assailants have rendered most heath facilities incapable of functioning. The attacks on health facilities have been their new war strategy. For instance in January 2018 alone there were 10 attacks on hospitals (Nathe, 2018). This means that several people with health complications will have no facility to be treated. This is not to forget the inadequate and unavailable of the medical personnel to treat them. The overall effect is that there will be no health security.
There is also concern about the diseases that emerge and those whose causal agents keeps mutating. These ranges from the new strains of influenza to old age Bubonic plague and the deadly Ebola virus. These challenges in the medical field are claiming the lives of thousands of people and good medical practitioners. The U.S alone has a shortage of physicians to cater to all her citizens. If this is the case in a superpower county you can imagine the situation in other countries of the world. A lot needs to be done in controlling these diseases so as to prevent massive losses and enhance health safety and security.
Misinformation on matters regarding heath is of a lot of concern. Myths and innuendos have led to the increased spread of diseases and even outrageous acts to be taken by people. The Lancet Newspaper once published in an article that there was a connection between childhood immunization and autism. The claim took years to be proven not to be true and for the article to retract. The information had already caused a lot of damage. Misinformation had also caused an outbreak of measles and mumps in the USA (Nathe, 2018). Misinformation is responsible is in itself a virus that is claiming, unknowingly the life of very many people. It is the responsibility of people to verify every information regarding their health before getting to act on the same. This will save them a lot in avoiding to fall victim to health issues they could otherwise avoid.
Currently, The World Health Organization has named vaccine hesitancy as one of the world’s top 10 global health threats (Confidence, 2019). Vaccine hesitancy is the reluctance to vaccinate in order to prevent a disease despite having the immunization vaccine for the same. Ebola is one of the viral diseases that have yet to be established a cure for. There is however a vaccine to immunize against the disease but has not been put to use due to vaccine hesitancy (Confidence, 2019).
The West African countries have suffered a lot due to Ebola. Liberia to be specific in the country that has suffered a great loss due to this pandemic. The disease has claimed countless lives and the number is still increasing exponentially. In just a week 113 new Ebola cases were reported on a single 24-hour period. This is a big number considering the facts that some may have not reported the disease due to the country’s derailing economic condition. The country has also a few health facilities that are not well equipped. This ranges from the physicians to handle patients to the treatment beds (WHO, 2019).
The Country has one referral hospital, the John F Kennedy Medical Center that is located in Monrovia. Despite it being the referral hospital, it cannot be able to cater to the Ebola patients. The hospital is in a bad state having damaged by the civil war, has gone through several electrical fires and has a shortage of staff due to the highly trained medical doctors claimed by the Ebola virus. This has diminished the Hospital’s capacity to handle the pandemic making it a national disaster. (WHO, 2019). Also, the loss of medical doctors has rid people access to proper health care to treat other treatable diseases.
Global health security is attained if every individual is actively involved in ensuring that they handle issues regarding health with uttermost priority. Emerging issues that are detrimental to health should be dealt with promptly to avoid them escalating to a point we cannot be able to control. As much as it takes individual action to cause a reaction, collective action is not ruled out in the march to afford global health security.
References Confidence, V. (2019, January 20). WHO announces Top Ten Threats to Global Health in 2019. Retrieved from Vaccine Confidence: https://www.vaccineconfidence.org/who-announces-top-ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019/ Nathe, M. (2018, January 19). 10 global health issues watch 2018. Retrieved from Intrahealth: https://www.intrahealth.org/vital/10-global-health-issues-watch-2018 Physiopedia. (2019, August 30). What is global health? Retrieved from Physiopedia: https://www.physio-pedia.com/What_Is_Global_Health WHO. (2019, August 30). Liberia. Retrieved from Worlds health Organization: https://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/ebola-6-months/liberia/en/
