• UGI USER
  • Dec 27, 2023
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International Day of Epidemic Preparedness

www.un.org

News

  • 27 December marks the ‘International Day of Epidemic Preparedness’;
  • Importance of this day: It intends to advance global awareness of, and participation in, efforts to prevent, prepare for, and cooperate against epidemics.

About December 27

  • The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution designating December 27 as the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness during its 75th session and 36th plenary meeting on December 7, 2020.
  • The proclamation acknowledged the long-term harm to social and economic development as well as the “devastating impacts of major infectious diseases and epidemics,” particularly the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The UN General Assembly also observed that the current pandemic had severely disrupted supply chains, overrun medical schools and health systems worldwide, and disproportionately impacted the lives of those living in less developed nations.
Major Pandemics In The Past Few Centuries

●   Smallpox (15th–17th centuries): Ninety percent of the people in the continent of America died from smallpox, which killed about 20 million people. The variola virus, which can spread through a number of different channels, is the cause of smallpox.

●   Cholera (1817–1823): In Jessore, India, the first cholera pandemic broke out and claimed millions of lives. Its seventh outbreak started in 1961 and is still going strong today. It is brought on by consuming food or water tainted with the Vibrio cholera bacterium.

●   The H1N1 or Spanish Flu (1918–1919): H1N1 virus is the cause of it. When it turned into pandemic, it affected about 500 million people, or one-third of the global population.  Globally, the pandemic claimed the lives of over 50 million people.

●   H3N2 or the Hong Kong Flu (1968–1970): There were about a million deaths worldwide and a strain of the influenza A virus called H3N2 was the cause.

●   HIV/AIDS (since 1981 until now): There have been 75 million HIV-positive cases since 1981, and 32 million of those cases have resulted in death. It is an ongoing pandemic that affects millions of people annually. The human immunodeficiency virus is the source of HIV infection.

●   SARS (2002–2003): One of the seven coronaviruses that can infect people causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. An outbreak that started in China’s Guangdong province in 2003 spread throughout the world and became a pandemic.

●   H1N1, or swine flu (2009–2010): In 2009, a novel strain of the influenza virus surfaced. It killed between 151,700 and 575,400 people worldwide after infecting millions of people.  Because it seemed to spread from pigs to humans, it is known as the “swine flu.”

●   Ebola (2014–2016): It started in a small Guinean village in 2014 and is brought on by infection with the Ebolavirus virus, which belongs to the family Filoviridae.

●   COVID-19 (coronavirus) (2019 – present): The newly identified coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease. The theory states that humans contract it from animals.

 

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