Why did the UK suffer such a high rate of excess deaths? Hugo Keith KC says the UK had one of the highest rates of excess deaths in Europe during the pandemic, with almost all other countries in western Europe having a lower level. Boris Johnson disagrees, saying the ONS data he saw put the … Continue reading Why COVID-19 deaths were highest in the UK
A few days ago, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, alerted Nigerians of impending flooding along the River Benue Basin. According to the alert, the Cameroonian Government has plans to “open the flood gates of the Lagdo Dam on the Benue River”. Recall that a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, was signed in 2016 between Nigeria … Continue reading Nigeria gears up for looming flood disaster
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com With nearly a million American lives lost and countless others facing long-term consequences, public health experts reflect on what went wrong—and right—and what the road ahead looks like. It was March 2020 when the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic hit home in the U.S. When the NBA suspended its season, … Continue reading Why experts think COVID Year 3 will be better
Criticism against the Greek government is growing as the country continues to battle raging wildfires that have forced thousands to flee. Photo by Stephan Seeber on Pexels.com Authorities on Evia, Greece's second-largest island, have in recent days denounced "insufficient" means to tackle the blazes when the situation was "critical". The fires on Evia, some 200 … Continue reading Criticism grows over Greece’s handling of raging wildfires
On Thursday — almost six months after Donald Trump, a hard denialist who doesn’t understand the difference between weather and climate, officially pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement (condemning the world to climate catastrophe had he been re-elected) , newly elected president Joe Biden, who rejoined the agreement immediately as his first presidential decision, committed his country to halving its 2005 emissions levels by 2030 at an online meeting of 40 world leaders. … Continue reading Carbon emissions: Can the US lead by example?
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out efforts in rescue and relief operations in flooded areas across the country and stressed that ensuring people's lives and safety is a top priority. Noting that the flood control situation is tough and has entered a critical period, Xi ordered local governments in flood-hit areas to fulfill … Continue reading Xi Jinping calls for more effective risk-control measures
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRIORITIZING INVESTMENTS TO MITIGATE PANDEMIC RISK IN RESOURCE-LIMITED SETTINGS Preparing for a pandemic is challenging because of a multitude of factors, many of which are unique among natural disasters. Pandemics are rare events, and the risk of occurrence is influenced by anthropogenic changes in the natural environment. In addition, accountability for … Continue reading Prioritizing investments to mitigate pandemic risk in resource-limited settings
Most new pandemics have originated through the “zoonotic” transmission of pathogens from animals to humans (Murphy 1998; Woolhouse and Gowtage-Sequeria 2005), and the next pandemic is likely to be a zoonosis as well. Zoonoses enter into human populations from both domesticated animals (such as farmed swine or poultry) and wildlife. But many historically significant zoonoses were … Continue reading Origin of Pandemics
Pandemic preparedness and response interventions can be classified by their timing with respect to pandemic occurrence: the prepandemic period, the spark period, and the spread period, as shown in box 17.1. Whereas some interventions clearly fall under the purview of a single authority, responsibility for implementing and scaling up many critical aspects of preparedness and response … Continue reading Pandemic preparedness and response interventions
Preventing and Extinguishing Pandemic Sparks Although most pandemic preparedness activities focus on reducing morbidity and mortality after a pandemic has spread widely, certain activities may prevent and contain pandemic sparks before they become a wider threat. At the core of pandemic prevention is the concept of One Health, an approach that considers human health, animal … Continue reading Preventing and extinguishing pandemic sparks
Nigeria has recorded 86 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 627, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said. The number of deaths also increased from 19 to 21, just as the number of recoveries rose to 170. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control disclosed this in … Continue reading 86 new coronavirus cases and 3 death recorded in Nigeria
A new case of Ebola virus disease was confirmed today in the city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “While not welcome news, this is an event we anticipated. We kept response teams in Beni and other high risk areas for precisely this reason,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. As … Continue reading Ebola: New case of the virus confirmed in Congo (DRC)
Officially known as COVID-19, the virus has so spread to almost 30 countries and killed about two dozen people. In China, it has infected some 77,000 people and killed more than 2,500, most of them in the central province of Hubei. Beijing postponed the annual meeting of the National People's Congress - due to start … Continue reading Wuhan, an example of risk management failure
Communities across Asia commemorated the more than 230,000 victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of one of the world's most deadly disasters. On the morning after Christmas Day in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off northern Sumatra island triggered a tsunami with waves as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet) that swept over vulnerable … Continue reading Asians still scared of the 9.1 magnitude earthequake that killed 230,000
A typhoon that struck the central Philippines over Christmas has killed at least 12 people, disaster agency officials said on Thursday. Typhoon Phanfone hit the Philippines late on Tuesday with winds of up to 120 kph (75 mph) and gusts of 150 kph, heavy rain and flooding. More than 58,000 people were evacuated from their … Continue reading Xmas typhoon kills at least 12 in Philippines
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