Epidemic Preparedness: A key to manage epidemics

Dr Mukesh Poudel

Epidemics of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease result in devastating health, social and economic consequences. The evolution of new infections that emerge often without warning from the natural environment keeps us on a continuous threat. The remarkable progress towards the development of new vaccines, antibiotics and other treatments and technologies, once made experts speculate "the time to close the book on the problem of infectious diseases". But, Since 2009 there have been six PHEIC declarations: the 2009 H1N1 (or swine flu) pandemic, the 2014 polio declaration, the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa, the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic, the 2018–20 Kivu Ebola epidemic, and the 2019–20 novel corona virus outbreak which reminds world of a degree to which people remain vulnerable to infectious diseases, known and unknown. The recent outbreak of novel corona virus - 2019 in Wuhan city, Hubei province of china that has been declared a global pandemic on 11th march is a great alarm this year on the fact that epidemics may arise at any time with unexpected magnitude and can spread faster and further than before becoming global very rapidly.