PH ranks 79th in pandemic response in Australian think-tank survey

January 29 ------ The Philippines placed 79th out of 98 countries that were evaluated for handling the coronavirus pandemic, based on the study made by Australian think-tank Lowy Institute. The country received an average score of 30.6 out of 100. The Lowy Institute used six indicators for their ranking – number of confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, confirmed cases per million people, confirmed deaths per million people, confirmed cases as a proportion of tests, and tests per 1,000 people.

“Collectively, these indicators point to how well or poorly countries have managed the pandemic in the 36 weeks that followed their hundredth confirmed case of COVID-19,” the Lowy Institute said. Other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand were on second and fourth spots, garnering average scores of 90.8 and 84.2, respectively. The Department of Health (DoH) said it “welcome(s) all research on COVID-19 and the opportunities to learn from good practices of other countries.” However, the DoH said that “proper context is crucial in assessing the performance of a country” since the pandemic is “very dynamic.”

“Usual issues in any measurement across different contexts include the difficulties in choosing what components should be measured, which indicator best represents that component, transforming and comparing data from different sources/definitions/interpretations across countries, and the very unique environmental or historical influences that affect overall performance,” the DoH said. “We can’t be comparing apples to oranges. If you look at their methodology – the measures they used did not capture the complex nature of pandemic response, for example how quickly a country initiates contact tracing, readiness of health facilities to address the surges, etc,” it added.

The DoH said that indicators of performance used by the Philippines are multidimensional that include “operational indicators of health and economic performance and across the Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Test, and Treat Strategies.” The DoH said that the country will continue to improve its “response and increase our capacities, not just for this pandemic” but as the Philippines “endeavor to achieve UHC (Universal Health Care) and deliver health for all.”

Source: mb.com.ph