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Pandemic Predictions And Preparations Prior To The COVID-19 Pandemic
Planning and preparing for pandemics has happened in countries and international organizations. The World Health Organization writes recommendations and guidelines, though there is no sustained mechanism to review countries' preparedness for epidemics and their rapid response abilities. National action depends on national governments. In 2005–2006, before the 2009 swine flu pandemic and during the decade following it, the governments in the United States, France, UK, and others managed strategic health equipment stocks, but they often reduced stocks after the 2009 pandemic in order to reduce costs. A June 2018 review said that pandemic plans everywhere were inadequate, since natural viruses can emerge with over 50% case fatality rates, but health professionals and policy makers planned as if pandemics would never exceed the 2.5% case fatality rate of the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, several governments ran demonstration exercis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide. The WHO was established on 7 April 1948. The first meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the agency's governing body, took place on 24 July of that year. The WHO incorporated the assets, personnel, and duties of the League of Nations' Health Organization and the , including the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Its work began in earnest in 1951 after a significant infusion of financial and technical resources. The WHO's mandate seeks and includes: working worldwide to promote health, keeping the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. It advocates that a billion more people should have: universal health care coverag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disease X
Disease X is a placeholder name that was adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2018 on their shortlist of blueprint priority diseases to represent a hypothetical, unknown pathogen that could cause a future epidemic. The WHO adopted the placeholder name to ensure that their planning was sufficiently flexible to adapt to an unknown pathogen (e.g., broader vaccines and manufacturing facilities). Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci stated that the concept of Disease X would encourage WHO projects to focus their research efforts on entire classes of viruses (e.g., flaviviruses), instead of just individual strains (e.g., zika virus), thus improving WHO capability to respond to unforeseen strains. In 2020, experts, including some of the WHO's own expert advisors, speculated that COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus strain, met the requirements to be the first Disease X. Rationale In May 2015, in pandemic preparat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the "NHS" name ( NHS England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales). Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS". The four systems were established in 1948 as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, free at the point of use for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care. In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60 and certain state ben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Influenza Pandemic
An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the last 140 years, with the 1918 flu pandemic being the most severe; this is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of 50–100 million people. The most recent, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, resulted in under 300,000 deaths and is considered relatively mild. These pandemics occur irregularly. Influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to humans from another animal species. Species that are thought to be important in the emergence of new human strains are pigs, chickens and ducks. These novel strains are unaffected by any immunity people may have to older strains of human influenza and can therefore spread extremely rapidly and infect very large numbers of people. Influenza A viruses can occasionall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Just-in-time Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a production method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. It is closely related to another concept called just-in-time manufacturing (JIT manufacturing in short). Just-in-time manufacturing tries to match production to demand by only supplying goods which have been ordered and focuses on efficiency, productivity (with a commitment to continuous improvement) and reduction of "wastes" for the producer and supplier of goods. Lean manufacturing adopts the just-in-time approach and additionally focuses on reducing cycle, flow and throughput times by further eliminating activities which do not add any value for the customer. Lean manufacturing also involves people who work outside of the manufacturing process, such as in marketing and customer service. Lean manufacturing is particularly related to the operational model implemented in the post-war In Western usage, the ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roselyne Bachelot
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, generally known as Roselyne Bachelot (née Narquin; born 24 December 1946) is a French politician who served as Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex (2020–2022) and as Minister of Solidarity and Social Cohesion (2010–2012) in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. She was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, which was part of the European People's Party. Early life and education Bachelot was born as Roselyne Narquin on 24 December 1946 in Nevers, France. Her father Jean Narquin, was a résistant and gaullist député, and her mother was Yvette Le Dû, a native from Gourin, both dentists. She has a brother, Jean-Yves Narquin, who ran for the European Parliament as a member of the National Front in 2015.Alexandre BoudetLe frère de Roselyne Bachelot candidat FN aux européennes ''The Huffington Post'', 22 April 2014 Bachelot received a Doctorate in Pharmacy. Political career Member of the Fren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 Swine Flu Pandemic Vaccine
The 2009 swine flu pandemic vaccines were influenza vaccines developed to protect against the pandemic H1N1/09 virus. These vaccines either contained inactivated (killed) influenza virus, or weakened live virus that could not cause influenza. The killed virus was injected, while the live virus was given as a nasal spray. Both these types of vaccine were produced by growing the virus in chicken eggs. Around three billion doses were produced, with delivery in November 2009. In studies, the vaccine appeared both effective and safe, providing a strong protective immune response and having a similar safety profile to the usual seasonal influenza vaccine. However, about 30% of people already had some immunity to the virus, with the vaccine conferring greatest benefit on young people, since many older people are already immune through exposure to similar viruses in the past. The vaccine also provided some cross-protection against the 1918 flu pandemic strain. Early results (pre-25 De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandemic H1N1/09 Virus
The pandemic H1N1/09 virus is a swine origin influenza A virus subtype H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic. This strain is often called swine flu by the public media. For other names, see the Nomenclature section below. Viral characteristics The virus is a novel strain of the influenza virus, for which existing vaccines against seasonal flu provided no protection. A study at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in May 2009 found that children had no preexisting immunity to the new strain but that adults, particularly those over 60, had some degree of immunity. Children showed no cross-reactive antibody reaction to the then-new strain, while adults aged 18 to 64 had 6–9%, and older adults 34%. Much reporting of early analysis repeated that the strain contained genes from five different flu viruses: North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and two swine influenza viruses typic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disinformation
Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the Latin prefix ''dis-'' to ''information'' making the meaning "reversal or removal of information". The rarely used word had appeared with this usage in print at least as far back as 1887. Some consider it a loan translation of the Russian ''dezinformatsiya'', derived from the title of a KGB black propaganda department. Defector Ion Mihai Pacepa claimed Joseph Stalin coined the term, giving it a French-sounding name to claim it had a Western origin. Russian use began with a "special disinformation office" in 1923. Disinformation was defined in '' Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (1952) as "false information with the intention to deceive public opinion". Operation INFEKTION was a Soviet disinformation campaign to influence opinion that the U. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Misinformation
Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It differs from disinformation, which is ''deliberately'' deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn out to be either true or false. Even if later retracted, misinformation can continue to influence actions and memory. People may be more prone to believe misinformation because they are emotionally connected to what they are listening to or are reading. The role of social media has made information readily available to us at anytime, and it connects vast groups of people along with their information at one time. Advances in technology has impacted the way we communicate information and the way misinformation is spread. Misinformation has impacts on our societies' ability to receive information which then influences our communities, politics, and medical field. History Early examples include the insults and smears spread among political rival ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (abbreviated CHS) is an independent, nonprofit organization of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The center works to protect people's health from epidemics and pandemics and ensures that communities are resilient to major challenges. The center is also concerned with biological weapons and the biosecurity implications of emerging biotechnology. The Center for Health Security gives policy recommendations to the United States government, the World Health Organization and the UN Biological Weapons Convention.Center for Health Security Mission Statement History The Center for Health Security began as the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies (CCBS) in 1998 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner. There is one member per member state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. The Commission President (currently Ursula von der Leyen) is proposed by the European Council (the 27 heads of state/governments) and elected by the European Parliament. The Council of the European Union then nominates the other members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President, and the 27 members as a team are then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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