BANGKOK, Dec 11 : Thailand has been ranked No 5 out of 195 countries in the recently published 2021 Global Health Security Index, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has announced.

The index, compiled by the John Hopkins Centre for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University and Nuclear Threat Initiative, is based on each country’s capacity to respond to epidemics and pandemics. The index is compiled every two years.

“The 2019 Global Health Security Index put Thailand in 6th place among 195 countries,” Anutin said.

“This year our ranking has climbed up one place with a score of 68.2 [from 100], showing that our public health system is strong even during the Covid-19 outbreak.”

In the “Detection and Reporting” part of the index, Thailand won 91.5 points, putting it in first place globally. Australia and United States ranked second and third in this category, respectively.

In the “Rapid Response” category, Thailand netted 67.3 points and finished second after Finland.

“We could not have been successful in disease prevention and control without the cooperation of all parties in government, private sector as well as citizens, especially the dedication of frontline medical professionals that have helped us keep the Covid-19 outbreak under control,” Anutin added.

The top 10 countries in the 2021 Global Health Security Index are: the United States (75.9), Australia (71.1), Finland (70.9), Canada (69.8), Thailand (68.2), Slovenia (67.8), United Kingdom (67.2), Germany (65.5), South Korea (65.4) and Sweden (64.9).

  - ANN