When it comes to having the best skills to fight epidemics and pandemics in the world, South Africa ranks tops in Africa, APA learnt on Saturday.
According to the latest report from the new Global Health Security Index made available here, South Africa was placed in the 34th place out of 195 countries – making it the highest-ranked in the continent.
The index, which assesses factors critical to dealing with threats which have the potential to eliminate humanity, also measured public confidence in government in dealing with these health issues, the report said.
These health factors include robust health systems, adherence to global norms, and political and security risks.
South Africa’s score was 54.8 but United States scored 83.5 out of a possible 100 – making it the best scoring country in the world.
Kenya was the second-highest ranked African country, ranked in 55th place, the index said.
The index, a project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security in the United States, found that “collectively, international preparedness for epidemics and pandemics remains very weak.”
The report called on the United Nations to set up a permanent unit for high-consequence biological threats, and summon a heads-of-state-level summit on biological threats in within two years.
NM/abj/APA