It is interesting to note that the term ‘wealth’, which often used to denote assets and money, has morphed to include health in the mix. It is now widely accepted, that health is indeed one of our largest assets and one that deserves our attention. With so many health scares and outbreaks taking place all over the world, it is important that we pay close attention to our immediate environment and take effective measures to both protect ourselves and those around us. It is a fact that an unclean environment can leave you at risk of being infected by pathogens which is why we need to make sure that our homes, the immediate surroundings are clean and pristine, at all times.
The fact remains that one of the deadliest pathogen outbreak which occurred during the 1920s caused the death of millions worldwide. To date, Spanish influenza, after Aids and TB is the worst health crisis to stare us right in the face. This particular flu was an airborne pathogen and highly contagious and what vexes us to this day is that scientists are yet to develop a vaccine that can counter Spanish influenza effectively. If there was an outbreak of the same today, in a congested part of the world like the Philippines, the consequences would be disastrous for the world at large. But on taking a closer look at some of the circumstances surrounding the early outbreak of this epidemic proves that people in general thought that it was just the flu and as a result, took little to no safety measures when interacting with those, who had been infected.
What this underscores is the fact, that we have this tendency to be complacent especially where health outbreaks are concerned. With so many health-related challenges, from antibiotic-resistant TB and Pneumonia to Diabetes, it is only a matter of time before we have a full-blown pandemic on our hands. One would think that with so many health-related challenges, and the fact that most governments including the US have not detailed any specific plans in the face of an outbreak, we are left to make our own way through this mess. Most governments, and even though the US has a policy on segregating the infected, they have little or no specific plans to deal specifically with future outbreaks, we are forced to ask the question “what else must happen for our collective governments to act?”.
At the moment, all we can do is send out a Hail Mary and hope for the best. But what we can do in the meantime is to take affirmative action by ensuring that our residences are kept clean at all times, and to go in for regular checkups. In the end, all we can do is but pray and hope that the world as a whole listens to reason. The UN is the perfect body to tackle this situation but their lack of action on this count speaks for itself.
