Table 1 Summary of the recent global epidemics and their impacts on the health systems of LMICs
Year, Emerging Pathogen | Impact on the population | WHO’s response | Countries affected/ implications |
|---|---|---|---|
2003, SARS [18] | 8422 cases, 916 deaths in 32 countries over 6 months | Response coordinated by WHO and Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) made up of 115 national health services, academic institutions, technical institutions, and individuals. | WHO estimates that the case fatality ratio of SARS ranges from 0 to 50% with an overall estimate of case fatality of 14–15% China, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam were mainly affected. |
2009, H1N1 influenza [19] | 526,060 cases 6770 deaths 206 countries have eported | Declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on April 25, 2009 Declared of Global pandemic on July 1, 2009 Declared as post pandemic on August 10, 2010 | East Asia, South East Asia and 21 African nations. |
2014, Ebola [20] | 28,652 suspected cases, 15,261 laboratory confirmed cases, 11,325 deaths 10 countries affected | Declared PHEIC on August 8, 2014 | Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria Epidemic costed a total of $4.3 billion USD, loss of human resources including health care staff, issues of food security, decrease in cross-border trade. |
2015, Zika [21] | 86 countries have reported evidence of Zika | Declared PHEIC on February 8, 2016 | African Region, Region of the Americas, South-East Asia Region, and Western Pacific Region have autochthonous mosquito-borne transmission. |
2019, Covid-19 [1] | 184,976 cases, 7529 deaths in 159 countries | Declared PHEIC on January 30, 2020 Declared as Global Pandemic on March 11, 2020 | China, Italy, Iran, Spain, UK, Korea, France, Germany, USA, Netherlands are affected in large numbers. Other Asian and South American countries have also been affected. |