December 27th is observed annually as International Day of Epidemic Preparedness. It’s a day for communities, governments, and ordinary citizens to think about the possibility of disease outbreaks and do what they can to prepare for them. This is something that is vitally important, as the recent COVID-19 outbreak clearly showed.

All throughout history, humans have battled infectious diseases and this will likely be the case well into the foreseeable future. However, as past struggles with diseases have shown us, we are quite resilient and can take on any challenge presented to us, especially when we have a chance to prepare for it.

The History Of International Day Of Epidemic Preparedness

In December 2019, the first mysterious cases of pneumonia cases were reported in China. The following month, the genetic sequence of COVID-19 is then shared with the entire world. All throughout 2020, this disease spread throughout the world — causing a pandemic that leads to the death of millions upon millions of human beings.

On December 27th, 2020, the first-ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was called for by the United Nations General Assembly. This holiday was to advocate for the importance of disease prevention and preparedness. It was also a holiday that urged government agencies, scientists, and healthcare professionals to work together.

Some Interesting Facts About Epidemics

Before we continue with the discussion of this holiday we thought that we’d take a small diversion from our main article and list some of the things that we’ve learned about epidemics. We think that the following facts will shine a spotlight on epidemics and help people understand them a little bit better.

• The 1918 Spanish Flu is believed to have begun in Kansas in the U.S.
• Spain took the blame for the 1918 Flu because their king was sick, and allowed an uncensored press to report on the flu.
• The word “quarantine” comes from the Italian word “quarantina.” This word means a period of 40 days.
• During the Black Death, the Italian city of Venice required ships suspected of carrying disease to anchor for 40-days before they landed.
• English Sweating Disease is a disease that caused massive sweating and would often cause death.
• English Sweating Disease raged for more than 6 decades before its last major outbreak in 1551.
• Many modern scholars believe English Sweating Disease was caused by the Hantavirus Virus.

Observing International Day Of Epidemic Preparedness

The main way for this holiday to be observed is by agencies all across the world to work together to prepare for current and future epidemics. One way that this can be done is for agencies to work together to share resources and craft new legislation.

This is also a good day for governments to give their citizens universal healthcare to prepare them for the next pandemic. And people can spread the word about this holiday by using the hashtag #InternationalDayOfEpidemicPreparedness.