Azlan Othman
Brunei Darussalam recorded an improvement in the prevention, rapid detection, response, health, norms and risk in the Global Health Security (GHS) Index 2021 published this month.
The Sultanate this year earned an average of 43.5 points out of 100, a 10.5-point improvement compared to 2019. Brunei also scored a perfect 100 in immunisation, 83.3 points in access to communication infrastructure and risks communications, 75.5 points in political risk and security risk, and 75 points in real time surveillance and reporting.
Brunei Darussalam is among the five nations, alongside Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore, that share data specifically for COVID-19 pandemic under the category of Detection and Reporting in the Index.
The GHS Index includes six categories, each covering a range of indicators and questions namely prevention; detection and reporting; rapid response; health system; commitments to improving national capacity, financing, and global norms as well as risk environment.
Since the release of the GHS 2019 Index and by the end of the GHS 2021 Index research period, an additional 21 countries have published a joint external evaluation (JEE).
All of the countries have shown an increase in score, rank, or both for their overall GHS Index scores.
Brunei along with the Marshall Islands, Palau, São Tomé and Principe, and New Zealand all saw more than five-point increase in their overall score.
The report, released by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, with research by Economist Impact, measured the capacities of 195 countries to prepare for epidemics and pandemics.
As of yesterday, Brunei Darussalam recorded 15,465 confirmed cases. Total recoveries stood at 15,265 while the number of active cases are 100.
Under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, 94.5 per cent of the Brunei population received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 93.2 per cent have received two doses. Those who received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccines are at 17.9 per cent.
