We’ve already defined “preparedness” for infectious disease outbreaks so now that we know what it is, the question is should countries prepare? And if so, how?

Photo Credit: University of Minnesota

Let’s start with some reasons why countries should prepare for potential outbreaks:

1. OLD AND NEW INFECTIONS: There are so many new/emerging and reemerging infectious diseases all over the world, we cannot keep up (see our post Infectious Disease Outbreaks Galore for more on this)
2. VIRUSES MOVE: In our globalized world, no country is 100% secure. Infectious diseases cross borders and jump across continents easily as people travel, so any country that does not have a solid preparedness strategy remains at risk of a major outbreak. An outbreak in New Zealand can turn into an outbreak in Jamaica which can turn into an outbreak in Italy, and so on.
3. PROACTIVE VS. REACTIVE STRATEGIES: We need to be proactive and focus on preparedness and prevention rather than always being reactive and scrambling to respond and control outbreaks. Dr. Monica Rull, an operational health advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), summarized this point best when she said, “Current outbreak response strategies are failing the very people they are designed to help. If we don’t make significant changes, we will be doomed to repeat past mistakes, and must take responsibility for the consequences.” We are responding to outbreaks less effectively than ever, so why not learn from the past and do our best to avoid them in the first place?

The fact is, despite these compelling reasons nearly 70% of countries remain unprepared.

So if we want to prepare, how do we do it?

Preparedness includes, but is not limited to, ensuring a country invests in the following:

• Improvements to the basic public health infrastructure
• A robust, widespread surveillance network to rapidly detect public health risks
• A workforce ready to coordinate emergency health response and analyze incoming data (emergency operations centre)
• Trained healthworkers who can recognize, diagnose, and manage potential threats
• Properly equipped laboratories that can quickly identify and confirm the diagnosis of various infectious diseases
• The capacity to conduct research to develop improved diagnostics and countermeasures such as medicines and vaccines while also exploring to identify currently unknown and potentially deadly viruses and diseases
• Access to emergency financing for outbreak response
• A regional (or even better, global) warning and response system to coordinate logistics and resources
• Public awareness and community engagement

And how does DRASA fit into all this?

We believe very strongly in empowering our health professionals in addition to promoting public awareness (the 4th and last bullets above). Healthworkers are our first line of defence against public health threats and they need to be properly trained and equipped to help prevent outbreaks. For that reason, our main initiative is an infectious disease and outbreak preparedness simulation training programme for healthworkers. We also believe strongly in the role of the public and communities in preventing the spread of diseases, which is why we launched our #ItStartsWithMe campaign.

We are determined to learn from the 2014 Ebola outbreak and use those lessons to contribute to Nigeria’s ongoing and future outbreak preparedness efforts. We hope you will support us.

This post is the second in our September 2016 Preparedness series to celebrate the US Center for Disease Control’s preparedness month. Check out the first post here.

And if you want to learn more about infectious diseases, follow our Infectious Disease Fridays (#IDFridays) series on our website, Facebook, and Instagram.

Photo Credit: CDC.gov