Experts warn South Africa unprepared for next pandemic
Health experts have warned that if another pandemic were to hit South Africa, the country could be unprepared.
They say South Africa needs to rapidly improve its early warning system ahead of any possible future pandemic.
Clinicians say new diseases often look like ordinary flu in the early stages.
By the time unusual patterns are recognised, infections may already be spreading in communities.
The experts say rural areas remain especially vulnerable due to limited surveillance and under-reporting.
They say wastewater monitoring and improved data sharing could serve as an early warning system.
Professor Sabiha Essack, of the South African Research Chair in Antibiotic Resistance and One Health, points out that laboratories play a critical role.
"I can speak from an antimicrobial resistance surveillance perspective, and I can tell you that there's either an underestimation or an overestimation by our passive surveillance, because generally we only send a sample to the lab when the treatment fails.
ALSO READ: Xaba urges shared responsibility in disaster risk reduction
"So as much as surveillance is critical and it's really an early warning signal, we don't do it routinely, and with all of the different priorities on the health system, surveillance falls way down the list."
UKZN's Chief Specialist and Head of Infectious Diseases, Yunus Moosa, stresses that improved communication between healthcare workers would help detect outbreaks faster.
"I think one of the problems we have amongst the clinicians is that we don't really speak to each other. We all work in our different silos. The epidemic has to reach some sort of critical threshold before people realise that something odd is going on."
Head of the Virology Department at UKZN, Nokukhanya Msomi, says the call now is for developed countries to be ready to fend for themselves when outbreaks occur.
"I think countries can implement or operationalise by strengthening their manufacturing abilities. The most important thing is not just to have access to these fancy diagnostic assays or treatment that we use, but to have the ability to continue to manufacture and supply our own demands even when the borders are closed, because that usually is a response when there is an outbreak of public health, a significance that threatens the world - people close their borders."
Find us on social media
Follow the ECR Newswatch WhatsApp channel here
We are also on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter)
MORE ON ECR
