How prepared are countries to deal with a global pandemic

The Global Health Security Index was released last week and examined the level of preparedness for countries around the world in the event of an epidemic or pandemic. The topic was thrust into the spotlight in 2014 when an Ebola outbreak devastated parts of West Africa, killing more than 10,000 people. That prompted many other countries to boost their levels of preparation.

The index analyses those preparation levels by focusing on whether countries have the proper tools in place to deal with large scale outbreaks of disease. Measured on a scale of 0 to 100 where 100 is the highest level of preparedness, the United States came first, followed by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, higher-income countries tended to record better scores in the index.