MALAYSIA ranks third among Asian nations in terms of preparedness in the face of a disease outbreak.

In the Global Health Security (GHS) Index released last October, the country placed 18th among 195 nations surveyed, and is considered “more prepared” to deal with a pandemic.

Among Asian countries, Malaysia is behind Thailand and South Korea, but leads Japan, Singapore and Indonesia.

Thailand is ranked sixth in the world and South Korea ninth, making them Asian countries deemed “most prepared”.

Malaysia is among several nations trying to contain an outbreak of a coronavirus originating in Wuhan that has sickened 2,800 the world over and killed 80 in China.

Putrajaya has confirmed four cases, all of them Chinese nationals who entered the country on holiday.

The index was jointly produced by the US-based Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, together with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“The (index) is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across the 195 countries that make up the state parties to the International Health Regulations 2005,” said GHS.

The index’s authors said they hope it will spur “measurable changes in national health security and improve international capability to address one of the world’s most omnipresent risks – infectious disease outbreaks that can lead to international epidemics and pandemics”.

“The index seeks to illuminate preparedness and capacity gaps to increase both political will and financing, to fill them at the national and international levels.”

The index rates countries based on publicly available information across six categories:

– Prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens;

– Early detection and reporting of epidemics of potential international concern;

– Rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic;

– Sufficient and robust health system to treat the sick and protect health workers;

– Commitments to improving national capacity, financing plans to address gaps and adhering to global norms; and,

– Overall risk environment and country vulnerability to biological threats.

Malaysia scored highly in the detection (73.2) and overall risk (72) categories, and is above average for prevention (54.1), response (61.3), health (57.1) and global norms (58.5). – January 27, 2020.