Background
Yemen that has been devastated by war is facing various challenges to respond to the recent potential outbreaks and other public health emergencies due to lack of proper strategies and regulations, which are essential to public health security. The aim of this study is to assess the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) core capacities under the current ongoing conflict in Yemen.
Methods
The study simulated the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) tool to assess the IHR core capacities in Yemen. Qualitative research methods were used, including desk reviews, in-depth interviews with key informants and analysis of the pooled data.
Result
Based on the assessment of the three main functions of the IHR framework (prevention, detection, and response), Yemen showed a demonstrated or developed capacity to detect outbreaks, but nevertheless limited or no capacity to prevent and respond to outbreaks.
Conclusion
This study shows that there has been poor implementation of IHR in Yemen. Therefore, urgent interventions are needed to strengthen the implementation of the IHR core capacities in Yemen. The study recommends 1) raising awareness among national and international health staff on the importance of IHR; 2) improving alignment of INGO programs with government health programs and aligning both towards better implementation of the IHR; 3) improving programmatic coordination, planning and implementation among health stakeholders; 4) increasing funding of the global health security agenda at country level; 5) using innovative approaches to analyze and address gaps in the disrupted health system, and; 6) addressing the root cause of the collapse of the health services and overall health system in Yemen by ending the protracted conflict situation.
There are persistent disparities with regard to receipt of herpes zoster vaccine among elderly blacks, but no data is available regarding the public health or economic impact of these disparities. A decision tree was constructed with multiple Markov nodes in order to estimate the preventable cases of herpes zoster occurring among elderly blacks due to disparities in receipt of herpes zoster vaccine and to quantify the economic costs associated with these disparities. The model was constructed to examine the number of herpes zoster cases occurring among elderly blacks from the age of 60 to 84 over a 20 year period and also calculated costs due to herpes zoster complications and lost productivity. Achievement of health equity would prevent over 34,500 cases of herpes zoster from occurring in the future and avert over $180 million in lost productivity and treatment costs as a result of these cases of herpes zoster. These results help to show that thousands of cases of herpes zoster could be prevented if blacks were vaccinated at the same frequency as whites and help to show the benefit of implementing viable strategies to achieving this goal.
Following publication of the original article [1], a funding information was missing in the Funding section.The updated Funding section is given below and the changes have been highlighted in bold typeface.
Background: there are several states which are unable to implement the International Health Regulations’ core capacities to face the urgent public health threats. Yemen is fronting various challenges to response to the recent potential outbreaks and other public health emergencies due to lack of proper strategies and regulations, which are essential to public health security. It has lived under the turmoil of several rounds of internal armed conflict and political instability since 2011. The overall impact of war and conflict on the health system is vividly observable. The aim of this study is to assess the International Health Regulations’ core capacities to respond to outbreaks during the conflict in Yemen. Methods: The study used qualitative data analysis, including desk reviews and in-depth interviews with key informants. This study simulated the World Health Organization's Joint External Evaluation tool to assess the IHR core capacities in Yemen Result: Based on the result of the assessment (with its three core functions of: Prevention, Detection, and Response), the country showed limited or no capacity to prevent and respond to outbreaks, however, it presented demonstrated or developed capacity to detect outbreaks. This signifies an overall poor IHR implementation in Yemen.Conclusion: This study shows that there has been poor implementation of IHR in Yemen, therefore, an urgent intervention is highly need to strengthen the implementation of the IHR core capacities in Yemen.
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