Multiple outbreaks, notably the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, have exposed gaps related to the timely detection of disease, availability of basic care, tracing of contacts, quarantine and isolation procedures, and preparedness outside the health sector, including global coordination and response mobilization ( Moon and others 2015 Pathmanathan and others 2014). Progress toward meeting the IHR has been uneven, and many countries have been unable to meet basic requirements for compliance ( Fischer and Katz 20). International donors also have begun to invest in improving preparedness through refined standards and funding for building health capacity ( Wolicki and others 2016).ĭespite these improvements, significant gaps and challenges exist in global pandemic preparedness. The framework put into place by the updated IHR contributed to a more coordinated global response during the 2009 influenza pandemic ( Katz 2009). Delayed reporting of early SARS cases also led the World Health Assembly to update the International Health Regulations (IHR) to compel all World Health Organization member states to meet specific standards for detecting, reporting on, and responding to outbreaks ( WHO 2005). Department of Health and Human Services 2005).
The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic and growing concerns about the threat posed by avian influenza led many countries to devise pandemic plans ( U.S. The international community has made progress toward preparing for and mitigating the impacts of pandemics. Significant policy attention has focused on the need to identify and limit emerging outbreaks that might lead to pandemics and to expand and sustain investment to build preparedness and health capacity ( Smolinsky, Hamburg, and Lederberg 2003). These trends likely will continue and will intensify. Evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics has increased over the past century because of increased global travel and integration, urbanization, changes in land use, and greater exploitation of the natural environment ( Jones and others 2008 Morse 1995).
Pandemics are large-scale outbreaks of infectious disease that can greatly increase morbidity and mortality over a wide geographic area and cause significant economic, social, and political disruption.
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