Infections were main cause for public health emergencies in last 2 decades; Climate-led natural disasters fuelling acute public health events
At least 5,807 acute public health events were reported between 2003 and 2022, averaging 290 a year, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. While infections are the leading cause of such events, the global health agency noted an uptick in disaster-related ones.
Events from WHO regions of Africa and Americas accounted for about half of all events in the last two decades — close to 54 per cent. African region saw 30 per cent such events and region of the Americas 24 per cent, said the second global report on public health intelligence activities at WHO.
Events in each of the other regions typically ranged from 5-20 per cent. The report, however, focused on activities in 2022. It built on previous bi- and tri-regional reports by the WHO’s regions of the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Acute public health events in percentage in WHO Regions, 2003–2022
Source: Global Public Health Intelligence Report 2022, WHO
At least 457 acute public health events were reported internationally in 2022, according to the WHO. Of these, 52 per cent were reported in the African region (27 per cent) and regions of the Americas (25 per cent).
This was followed by the European Region (19 per cent), Eastern Mediterranean (11 per cenrt) and Western Pacific Regions (11 per cent). South-East Asia Region accounted for just eight per cent of the events reported in 2022.
Acute public health occurrences have increased by 33 per cent between 2021 and 2022, the WHO added. However, the total number of incidents reported by the agency is comparable to the total number of such events reported in earlier years, such as 2009 (463 events) and 2020 (450 events).
“This report highlighted the extent of global efforts to protect and serve communities by detecting, assessing and responding to thousands of signals of potential health threats annually,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, assistant director general of WHO Division of Health Emergency Intelligence & Surveillance Systems, on microblogging website X, previously known as Twitter.
While the number of acute public health events has varied throughout the years with, generally, an increase since 2015, infectious diseases continued to account for the largest share. The predominant cause of events for each year between 2003 and 2022 were infectious diseases ranging to 63-96 per cent, respectively.
However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the proportion of events due to disasters in several WHO regions, said the report.
“This report highlighted the role of infectious disease threats in health emergencies. The vast majority of health threats that the WHO detects and responds to are related to infectious diseases. However, the report also shows the growing impact of climate change, either directly through extreme weather events, or indirectly as a driver of infectious disease spread,” Michael Ryan, executive director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, wrote in the report.
In 2022, infectious diseases were the main cause of acute public health events globally. Over 80 per cent of all events were due to infectious diseases, while the second most common cause were disasters ( seven per cent). The trend in 2022 was consistent with previous years, when infectious diseases were the predominant hazard globally.
The remaining events were caused by animal or zoonoses, chemical, food safety, product and other hazards, ranging from 0.2–4.6 per cent per hazard, the report said.
Across a five-year period, infectious disease events were dominated by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), followed by measles, dengue fever and cholera. In 2022, the most acute public health events of an infectious nature were due to monkey pox.
But climate-led natural disasters have been fuelling acute public health events, showed WHO in its report. Climate change may worsen the cholera crisis in Africa, it alerted in February 2023 too.
Acute public health events caused by disasters have been more frequently recorded, particularly in the previous five years, in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions, said the report. However, in Africa region, there has been an increase in share of disaster-led health emergencies between 2021 and 2022, show the trends presented by WHO.
Acute public health events, in percentage, by hazard type and WHO Region, 2003–2022
Source: Global Public Health Intelligence Report 2022, WHO
Whether it is zoonoses or water-borne diseases, climate change has a clear role to play in their spread on the Africa continent, according to a March 2023 special report by Down to Earth.
According to WHO, the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is likely to integrate health into the global climate change agenda. The WHO report which provides compelling evidence of the connections between disease epidemics and natural disasters connected to climate change, is crucial and timely in this regard.
With increasing health threats, (re)-emerging diseases, conflict and the ever-growing impact of climate change, strengthening of public health intelligence is indispensable and key for tackling and mitigating future health emergencies, it said.
Because health threats are complex, evaluating and assessing them requires interdisciplinary teams and expertise. In this regard, WHO identified the Joint FAO-WHO-WOAH Global Early Warning System (GLEWS+) for health hazards and developing risks at the interface of human, animal and ecological systems as being of great significance.
Ryan also underlined the need of having enough resources to improve public health intelligence in order to quickly identify and address any potential dangers to public health in the future.
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