A review of poliomyelitis epidemics in Jamaica: The immunization policies and socio-economic implications

The prevalence of communicable diseases in the English speaking Caribbean has declined considerably over the last two decades, creating a false sense of security and complacency in implementing continuous preventive measures such as immunization.
Poliomyelitis is one such case in paint. The last case of paralytic poliomyelitis was reported in Jamaica in 1969. Then twelve years later, in May 1982, the Ministry of Health announced the outbreak of poliomyelitis in the parish of St. James, caused by the Type I virus.
This paper traces the history of epidemics of poliomyelitis in Jamaica from 1954 to 1982, the Government's policies and strategies for immunization and demonstrates that preventive intervention through immunization is cheaper and preferable to crisis management caused by epidemics. The evaluation of the social and economic costs of the 1982 poliomyelitis epidemic in Jamaica provides conclusive evidence in support of preventive intervention.     

Medical supplies management in the cholera epidemic in Somalia 1985

In March/April 1985 a cholera epidemic of explosive speed affected a population of 45,000 newly arrived refugees in the town of Hargeysa in the North-West region of Somalia. Seven hundred and sixty one people were killed by the disease within ten days. Great efforts were made on regional, national and international levels in order to reduce mortality and to control the spread of the disease, and large amounts of relief supplies were immediately flown into the country from various aid organizations and governments. This paper describes the supplies management during the operation, with an emphasis on the mobilization of supplies from abroad and from the capital into the emergency area. Recommendations are offered for the organization of medical supplies during cholera outbreaks. The author worked during the epidemic as co-ordinating secretary for relief supplies in Mogadishu.     

The ecology of COVID-19 and related environmental and sustainability issues

Around the globe, human behavior and ecosystem health have been extensively and sometimes severely affected by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Most efforts to study these complex and heterogenous effects to date have focused on public health and economics. Some studies have evaluated the pandemic’s influences on the environment, but often on a single aspect such as air or water pollution. The related research opportunities are relatively rare, and the approaches are unique in multiple aspects and mostly retrospective. Here, we focus on the diverse research opportunities in disease ecology and ecosystem sustainability related to the (intermittent) lockdowns that drastically reduced human activities. We discuss several key knowledge gaps and questions to address amid the ongoing pandemic. In principle, the common knowledge accumulated from invasion biology could also be effectively applied to COVID-19, and the findings could offer much-needed information for future pandemic prevention and management.