0 . Major changes since previous version of the HIP
On 1 January 2012, the HIP Epidemics was launched with an indicative amount of EUR 5,000,000. However, for the first assessment round, only EUR 3,000,000 had been assigned. As all funds had been committed by October 2012, the second assessment round over EUR 2,000,000 was launched on 25 October 2012.
1 . Context
Epidemics pose great risks to the health, lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. Communicable diseases, which have appeared or reappeared in recent years, have demonstrated their great epidemic potential and their capacity to significantly exceed national resources and boundaries, causing major, even regional, emergencies.
This is due to a number of reasons, including the high burden of endemic and epidemic-prone diseases; the existence of concurrent and complex emergencies resulting from natural disasters, climate change, and/or conflict, increasing the vulnerability to infectious diseases and reducing the ability of countries to respond to public health risks, especially if pre-existing health systems are poorly resourced. The vaccination coverage in developing countries is generally low and the risk of transmission of infections is thus enhanced. Poverty, lack of basic sanitation facilities, low hygienic standards and malnutrition in post-emergency or structurally weak countries increase the vulnerability to communicable diseases. Disasters, such as the Haitian earthquake, increase the already existing vulnerability to epidemics. The Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO) has supported emergency operations to address outbreaks of communicable diseases throughout the world for the last years.