Global health security threats in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 era include dense urban populations, increased human–animal proximity, migration driven by political or economic instability, climate change, humanitarian crises, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the misuse of biological research—including the accidental or intentional release of high-risk pathogens. The foundational preparation for these threats is to establish a robust, resilient public health system based on universal health coverage. The World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations must continue to promote global solidarity by maintaining core capacities such as surveillance, national laboratories, and epidemiological investigations of emerging infectious diseases, with timely reporting and information sharing within the global health security community. A One Health approach is essential for addressing AMR. Infection prevention and control must be enhanced to reduce healthcare-associated infections in medical facilities. Additionally, regulations concerning biosafety and biosecurity should address dual-use research of concern as well as the accidental or intentional release of highrisk pathogens from laboratories. Global health security is a collective responsibility because these threats know no borders and require coordinated action.
<b>Objectives</b><br/>The study aimed to analyze the core capacities to implement World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR) in 6 countries: Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Republic of Korea. Methods: Secondary data from relevant databases and reports, including the electronic State Party Self-Assessment Annual Reporting mechanism and global health security index, were used to assess health security in these countries. Descriptive statistics summarized the basic features of the scores, and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was subsequently performed to identify factors affecting health security scores while highlighting key similarities and differences between countries. Results: Early warning and event management emerged as the primary strength in most countries. Common opportunities included international commitments and immunization programs. In contrast, many countries shared weaknesses related to the policy, legal, and normative frameworks for IHR implementation, as well as challenges in human resources, chemical event management, and radiation emergency preparedness. Recurring threats involved issues such as biosafety, biosecurity, dual-use research and the culture of responsible science, infection control practices, coordination between public health and security authorities, laboratory supply chain vulnerabilities, and communication with healthcare workers during public health emergencies. Conclusion: In order to counter future global health threats, countries should prioritize enhancing surveillance capacity (early warning and event management) as well as the immunization indicator (vaccination rates for human and animal diseases, including the national vaccine delivery system).
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<b>Objectives</b>
<p>This study aims to evaluate the risk assessments of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), from the point of detection to the provision of basic information to the relevant public health authorities.</p></sec>
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<b>Methods</b>
<p>To estimate the overall risk of specific public health events, probability, and impact at the country-level were evaluated using available information. To determine the probability of particular public health events, the risk of importation and risk of transmission were taken into consideration. KCDC used 5 levels (“very low,” “low,” “moderate,” “high,” and “very high”) for each category and overall risk was eventually decided.</p></sec>
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<b>Results</b>
<p>A total of 8 risk assessments were performed on 8 separate occasions between January 8<sup>th</sup> to February 28<sup>th</sup>, 2020, depending on the detection and report of COVID-19 cases in other countries. The overall risk of the situation in each assessment increased in severity over this period: “low” (first), “moderate” (second), “high” (third), “high” (fourth), “high” (fifth), “high” (sixth), “high” (seventh), and “very high” (eighth).</p></sec>
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<b>Conclusion</b>
<p>The KCDC’s 8 risk assessments were utilized to activate national emergency response mechanisms and eventually prepare for the pandemic to ensure the containment and mitigation of COVID-19 with non-pharmaceutical public health measures.</p></sec>
Citations
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<b>Objectives</b>
<p>To estimate the number and risk of imported infections resulting from people visiting Asian and Latin American countries.</p></sec>
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<b>Methods</b>
<p>The dataset of visitors to 5 Asian countries with dengue were analyzed for 2016 and 2017, and in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, imported cases of zika virus infection were also reported. For zika virus, a single imported case was reported from Brazil in 2016, and 2 imported cases reported from the Maldives in 2017. To understand the transmissibility in 5 Southeast Asian countries, the estimate of the force of infection, i.e., the hazard of infection per year and the average duration of travel has been extracted. Outbound travel numbers were retrieved from the World Tourism Organization, including business travelers.</p></sec>
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<b>Results</b>
<p>The incidence of imported dengue in 2016 was estimated at 7.46, 15.00, 2.14, 4.73 and 2.40 per 100,000 travelers visiting Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, respectively. Similarly, 2.55, 1.65, 1.53, 1.86 and 1.70 per 100,000 travelers in 2017, respectively. It was estimated that there were 60.1 infections (range: from 16.8 to 150.7 infections) with zika virus in Brazil, 2016, and 345.6 infections (range: from 85.4 to 425.5 infections) with zika virus in the Maldives, 2017.</p></sec>
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<b>Conclusion</b>
<p>This study emphasizes that dengue and zika virus infections are mild in their nature, and a substantial number of infections may go undetected. An appropriate risk assessment of zika virus infection must use the estimated total size of infections.</p></sec>
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