Managing Pandemics

Health
Health: Managing Pandemics

OUTLINE

• What is a pandemic?
• Long term disease management: Malaria
• Sudden pandemic outbreaks: Ebola
• Conclusions
Health: Managing Pandemics

WHAT IS A PANDEMIC?

“A disease or virus that spreads across a broad

geographical area and can spread worldwide”
Some examples of pandemics:
• Different types of influenza
• HIV/AIDS
• Ebola
• Malaria
Health: Managing Pandemics

LONG TERM DISEASE MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY: MALARIA

• One of the most infectious diseases faced by humanity in

our history
• Death toll from malaria continues year on year
• In 2013, there was an estimated 198 million cases of
malaria and 584,000 people died (WHO, 2015).
• Mortality rates are dropping but access to treatment and
prevention is still unavailable for millions of people
Health: Managing Pandemics

BASIC FACTS ABOUT MALARIA

• Evidence suggests that malaria could have originated

before human life and has evolved with humanity
• Evidence of malaria has been found in Egyptian mummies,
preserved over 3000 years ago
• Caused by single-celled parasite that is carried by
mosquitos and transmitted by their bite
• Malaria is preventable and treatable but still causes many
deaths
• 90% of deaths resulting from malaria occur in Africa
(WHO, 2014)
• There have been efforts to eradicate malaria but 97
countries still have ongoing malaria transmission (WHO,
2014)
Health: Managing Pandemics

GEOGRAPHY

• Mostly occurs in tropical and subtropical areas

• Generally occurs in poorer parts of the world
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected continent but
other affected areas include parts of Asia, Latin America,
some parts of the Middle East and some southern parts of
Europe
Health: Managing Pandemics

REASONS WHY…

• Weather conditions are favourable for year-round

transmission
• Socio-economic instability makes eradication difficult
• Access to treatment and preventative measures can be
difficult in some areas because of lack of access to services
• Costs for drugs, travel to clinics, absence from work etc… are
too high for individuals and families
• Costs of supplying and staffing health facilities, public health
interventions and economic damage etc… too high for
government
• Detrimental impact on economic growth (exacerbates
existing issues)
Health: Managing Pandemics

ACTIVITY 1

WHY AFRICA?

Understand why malaria is more prevalent in certain

areas of the world
Health: Managing Pandemics

ERADICATING MALARIA

• Between 2000 and 2013 the global malaria rate dropped by 47% (WHO,
2015)
• World Health Organisation agreed its Global Malaria Strategy for 2016-
2017
Aims to:
– Eradicate malaria in at least 35 countries in 2030
– Reduce malaria cases by 40% by 2020 and at least 90% by 2030
• Strategy involves three elements:
1. Ensuring access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment
services
2. Accelerating efforts towards elimination and malaria-free status
3. Strengthening malaria surveillance
Health: Managing Pandemics

ACTIVITY 2

ERADICATING MALARIA

Consider the difficulties of implementing an eradication

programme and to improve general researching
and synthesising skills
Health: Managing Pandemics

SUDDEN PANDEMIC OUTBREAKS:

CASE STUDY: EBOLA OUTBREAK 2014
• In August 2014, the World Health Organisation declared
the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, that began in March
2014, to be an international health emergency, requiring a
coordinated global approach (CNN, 2014)
Health: Managing Pandemics

BASIC FACTS ABOUT EBOLA

• First identified in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks –

one in Nzara, Sudan and the other in Yambuku, Zaire
(Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Highly infectious
• In the 2014 outbreak, 1 in 2 people who contracted it died
(National Geographic, 2014).
• Virus is contracted through direct contact with:
• Bodily fluids from someone who has Ebola or who has
already died from it
• Contaminated objects – e.g. needles and other
medical equipment
• Infected animals – contact with blood, fluids or
infected meat
Health: Managing Pandemics

BASIC FACTS ABOUT EBOLA

• Ebola is only able to spread from someone when they are

showing symptoms of Ebola
• Symptoms appear between 2 and 21 days after exposure
• Can be difficult to diagnose as many of the symptoms are
similar to flu-like diseases
• Not airborne or waterborne, can only be spread by
contact with an infected person, object or animal
Health: Managing Pandemics

ACTIVITY 3

MANAGING THE SPREAD OF EBOLA

Understand the difficulties in managing a sudden pandemic

outbreak such as Ebola
Health: Managing Pandemics

TREATING EBOLA

• Experimental treatments have been trialled but currently

there are no known cures for the virus
• No licensed vaccine to protect against Ebola, but some
potential vaccines are being considered (WHO, 2015).
• Treatment for those infected involves treating the
symptoms presenting and minimising the risk of further
contamination to others
Health: Managing Pandemics

MANAGING EBOLA

• Compared to diseases such as malaria, number of Ebola cases are

comparatively small
• Difficulty treating and preventing disease has led to widespread
concern
• International Medical Corps response involves:
• Providing care and treatment for patients whilst isolating them
• Providing specialised training for local and international health
workers
• Strengthening local non-Ebola health care and mitigating
secondary impacts of the crisis
• Helping rebuild local health systems and addressing longer-
term needs
• Helping communities to rebuild their healthcare systems is key
(International Medical Corps UK, 2015)
Health: Managing Pandemics

ACTIVITY 4

LEARNING FROM EBOLA

Understand how the Ebola outbreak can help with managing

sudden pandemic outbreaks in future
Health: Managing Pandemics

LONG TERM VS SUDDEN OUTBREAKS

• All pandemic can be devastating to local and international

communities
• Limited resources means that it is difficult to balance long
term planning and management of diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and malaria in an attempt to eradicate them
completely and have the sudden resources needed when
sudden outbreaks such as SARS or Ebola occur.
Health: Managing Pandemics

ACTIVITY 5

LONG TERM VS SUDDEN OUTBREAKS

Understand the difficulties in determining where resources

should be sent to manage global health crises
Health: Managing Pandemics

CONCLUSIONS

• Managing any pandemic is difficult

• Balancing the desire to eradicate a disease with the
necessity to manage sudden outbreaks poses problems
• Local and international difficulties of managing disease
outbreaks
• Wider implications of sudden outbreaks
• An understanding of the reasons diseases can be more
prevalent in some areas than others