Jordan ranks 67th out of 195 on Global Health Security Index

AMMAN — Jordan has ranked third among Arab countries, and 67th out of 195 countries on the Global Health Security Index (GHSI), with Jordan scoring 42.8, according to a Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF) brief which analysed the rankings. 

The GHSI is an assessment of health security alongside its related capabilities across 195 countries. 

The index is developed by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security together with Economist Impact, and was first launched in October 2019.

The 2021 GHSI assesses countries across six categories: Prevention, detection and reporting, rapid response, health system, compliance with international norms and the risk environment. The USA tops the global ranking with a score of 75.9, with Somalia ranking last with a score of 16.

In the prevention category, Jordan’s health system comes in fifth among Arab economies, read the brief. 

As for detection and reporting, Jordan ranks fifth among Arab economies, while in the category of rapid response, Jordan’s health system comes in third among Arab economies.

In terms of the health system category, Jordan comes in first among Arab economies.

The JSF policy brief called on relevant stakeholders to consider the categories where the country ranks low. 

In the prevention category, Jordan ranks low in zoonotic disease prevention — the transmission of diseases from an animal to a human and in biosecurity.

In the detection and reporting category, Jordan ranks poorly in the strength and quality of laboratory systems, such as identifying the cause of an outbreak, and in real time surveillance and reporting. 

As for the levels of rapid response, Jordan ranks poorly in terms of access to communications infrastructure.

In the health system category in the survey, the JSF observed that Jordan had a poor rank in healthcare access. This access constitutes of the structures that are put into place to ensure access to affordable healthcare among other things.  

In the category of compliance with international norms, Jordan ranks poorly in financing mechanisms that are needed at national and international levels alongside cross-border agreements on public health and the animal health emergency response.  

Risk environment as a category sees Jordan ranking poorly in government effectiveness, which is the ability of the government to react in a coordinated, functional and humane manner. This is vital to successfully overcoming a major health crisis.