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Ava Isola

Ms. Gardner

English 10H/ Period 4

30 April 2018

The Real Epidemic

Epidemics have been wiping out populations since the dawn of man. Is the global

health community prepared for the next global epidemic? How much have the governments of the world

actually put in to keeping everyone safe from something this difficult to prevent? Since the dawn of man,

viruses and plagues have swept the world and taken up to a third of its human population. With Earth’s

ever-growing amount of people, it is overdue for the next global epidemic. Donald McNeil Jr, a writer for

the New York Times, states that only six countries in the entire world have have gone through the “two

external evaluations of their readiness to face pandemics.” The global health community is unprepared

and unwilling to face the next global epidemic, for they ignore the risk of epidemics, neglect aid to

underdeveloped countries, and cause chaos while trying to contain disease outbreaks.

When reading the news, one may infer that the world has prepared as much as it can

for something as drastic as an epidemic. Scientists have been pumping out vaccines and treating diseases

left and right. A writer for the Los Angeles Times, Melissa Healy, describes a treatment for Hepatitis,

writing that the “Food and Drug Administration has approved a few new antiviral drugs to treat Hepatitis

C in the last two years.” Additionally, the CDC constantly aids other countries in cutting the problem at

the root by treating people in the city a disease originated from, which prevents the disease from

spreading. A study done by the University of Illinois’ Chicago says that over 450,000 deaths from the

mumps, measles, polio, rabies, hepatitis A, and several other diseases were prevented by a “1962

breakthrough” in which Leonard Hayflick created the normal human cell strain (“Ten Million Lives

Saved by 1962 Breakthrough, Study Says”). This has been used to safely develop vaccines for over ten

diseases. Overall, some believe that the breakthroughs in vaccines in recent years is enough to protect

them from future epidemics. Yes, the vaccines created in the past hundred years have been revolutionary
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and protect against many diseases, like the HPV vaccines and the new treatments for the Whooping

Cough; nevertheless, scientists have not cured every disease (Cholera, AIDS, and Ebola, just to name a

few) and vaccines may not be received by the whole world due to expenses or the anti-vaccine movement

(“Timeline”).

Of course, new medical research has been very helpful in treating pandemics all over

the globe, but until recently, most vaccines have been labeled too expensive to produce, even the

scientifically simplest vaccines; therefore, most countries do not realize that Epidemics cost a lot more

than the vaccines that will prevent them and they ignore the risk. “The world’s failure to control Ebola

quickly in 2014 and 2015 cost 11,000 lives and at least $6 billion,” states Tina Rosenberg, a journalist for

the New York Times. After this catastrophe, three global experts in this field proposed a $2 billion startup

for an organization for vaccine development, this was approved and funded by many countries, including

Norway, Germany, Japan, and India (Rosenberg). Although this is a great starting point, the vaccines they

are making take time for approval, and an efficient way to distribute them is yet to be created

(Rosenberg). The CEPI, an organization that was long overdue, is a wake up call to those still sleeping in

ignorance, ignoring the threat of Epidemics. It took 11,000 deaths and $6 billion for the global health

community to realize how unprepared the world is for these disasters, and yet some still turn a blind eye.

Ignoring preparations for the inevitable disaster of an epidemic is causing many countries to lose money,

and causing many citizens to lose faith in their government.

Along with overall neglect of the issue at hand, the governments of the world, especially of

first-world countries, tend to forget that most underdeveloped countries can not afford adequate

preparation for future pandemics. Tikki Pang, a former member of the World Health Organization (WHO)

describes this problem as “an ongoing concern”, stating, “many developing countries are not sufficiently

prepared to deal with an emerging pandemic owing to limited resources, competing priorities and lack of

political commitment.” These statements are especially worrying considering disease outbreaks and

pandemics are more common in poor conditions. In 1842, a typhus epidemic in Upper Silesia was

studied, the results concluded that “there can now no longer be any doubt that such an epidemic
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dissemination of typhus had only been possible under the wretched conditions of life that poverty and

lack of culture had created in Upper Silesia” (qtd. in Oppenheim). The global health community has come

out with vaccines aiding potential outbreaks that are out of reach to those who need it most, and there is

not yet a solution to this problem. Some may say that this issue will only affect the country it occurs in

and should not be the priority of the whole world. Regarding the Ebola epidemic, Thomas Frieden, the

former director of the CDC, pointed out that Ebola “would have spread all over Nigeria, all over Africa,

and could have continued to spread for years” without their quick response (qtd. in Coughlin). Also,

regarding the response by some US politicians, Frieden stated “as long as the outbreak smolders in Africa,

as long as it’s in Africa, we’re potentially at risk, because even if we tried to close the border, it wouldn’t

work” (qtd. in Coughlin). Destroying the problem at the root and aiding third-world countries in

pandemic and epidemic prevention is essential to the health of not only the citizens of the aided countries,

but the citizens of every country. Therefore, the global health community must stop turning a blind eye.

Although failing to focus on the issue of epidemics and leaving underdeveloped countries without

resources has been rampant, the unpreparedness of the global health community for epidemics is

Displayed the most through past outbreaks of diseases and their lack of interest in preparing for the worst.

Three major diseases affected air travel specifically: SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in

2003, swine flu in 2009, and Ebola in 2014 (Johnson). SARS made its way out of Asia, as the only line of

defense set up by the government was a screen displaying the body temperature of all the passengers who

walked through it (Johnson). This did nothing. The Ebola virus was even worse; as the CDC arrived to

inspect a group of individuals rumored to have the illness, the set up they required to put on their

protective gear held up luggage from being loaded onto the plane, which blocked other responders from

arriving on the scene (Johnson). The chaos of this situation is an obvious example of governmental

naivety; for, if they had already had a plan, they would not have created such chaos. The American

government has not learned from its mistakes as the CDC has just mojorly downsized its epidemic

prevention activities due to lack of funding, causing anti-epidemic programs to cease in thirty-nine

countries (Sun). “The CDC plans to narrow its focus to 10 ‘priority countries’ starting in October 2019”,
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comments Lena Sun, a writer for the Washington Post, “They are India, Thailand, Vietnam, Jordan,

Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Guatemala.” The US government’s small-mindedness and

lack of interest on the issue shows the global health community is lacking in readiness for the next disease

scare. The lack of interest on this important issue and the global health community’s reaction to previous

disease outbreaks put the rest of the world in danger.

To summarize, the global health community is ill-prepared and lacks interest in

preparing for the next global epidemic. An epidemic is a hovering danger that seems so unreachable and

far away that most just ignore the threat altogether, but the more the danger is ignored, the more of a

threat it becomes. Diseases are becoming easier and easier to spread, as Rosenberg claims that “according

to mathematical modeling by the Gates Foundation, a virulent strain of airborne flu virus could spread to

all major global capitals within 60 days. Within 250 days, it could kill more than 33 million people.” The

global health community is not prepared to handle anything like this disastrous situation. Vote for

politicians who support anti-epidemic strategies and donate to local causes that are attempting to prevent

outbreaks, like the CEPI. Cut the problem at the root and prevent outbreaks of disease before they even

start -- protect not only yourself, but your families and your fellow man.

Works Cited

Coughlin, Christine N., and Adam Messenlehner. "Isolationist Policies Threaten Public

Health." American Journal of Public Health, 2017, pp. 860-861. SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com.

Healy, Melissa. "A Bold Strategy to Eradicate Hepatitis." Los Angeles Times, 02 Apr,

2017, pp. A.12. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Johnson, Mark, and McKenna Oxenden. "U.S. Lacks Plan on Airborne Diseases." USA

TODAY, 01 Dec, 2017, pp. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

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McNeil, Jr, Donald G. "Only Six Nations have Evaluated Readiness for Global

Pandemic." New York Times (Online), 31 Jul, 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Oppenheim, Ben, and Gavin Yamey. “Pandemics and the Poor.” Brookings, Brookings, 19

June 2017,www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2017/06/19/pandemics-and-the-poor/.

Pang, Tikki. “Is the Global Health Community Prepared for Future Pandemics?” EMBO

Molecular Medicine, John Wiley and Sons Inc., June 2016,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4888848/.

Rosenberg, Tina. "Stopping Pandemics before they Start." New York Times (Online), 27

Jun, 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Sun, Lena H. "U.S. to Curtail Global Prevention Efforts." Washington Post, 02 Feb, 2018, pp.

A.4. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

"Ten Million Lives Saved by 1962 Breakthrough, Study Says." Targeted News Service,

2017. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

“Timeline.” Timeline | History of Vaccines, www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline.