Health security disparities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A comparative analysis using an integrated MCDM and clustering approach

Q1 Social Sciences

Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jobb.2025.01.001

Adel A. Nasser , Abed Saif Ahmed Alghawli , S. Saleh , Amani A.K. Elsayed

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Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to analyze and compare health security performance (HSP) between Gulf Cooperation Council and non-Gulf Cooperation Council countries within the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) for 2019 and 2021, recognizing the critical role of health security in managing global health threats.

Methods

The study utilized data from the Global Health Security Index (GHSI) for 2019 and 2021. Key health security priorities were identified using the entropy objective weighting method. The VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method was employed to rank countries based on overall performance. K-means clustering was applied to group countries with similar health security profiles. Pearson’s and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were used to assess relationships between independent HSP indicators and overall performance scores.

Results

A significant shift in health security priorities within the EMR was observed between 2019 and 2021, with prevention gaining prominence. Gulf Cooperation Council countries emphasized detection and reporting, while non-Gulf Cooperation Council countries prioritized health systems and prevention. Gulf Cooperation Council countries, particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, consistently demonstrated strong HSP. Conversely, non-Gulf Cooperation Council countries facing conflict and instability, such as Yemen, Somalia, and Syria, exhibited weaker performance. Health system capacity, prevention, detection and reporting, and risk environment showed robust correlations with overall HSP.

Conclusion

This study underscores the necessity for tailored, adaptive policies to address HSP disparities across regions, highlighting investment in prevention, detection, and reporting. It stresses international collaboration, improved policy implementation, and ongoing research to enhance global health security systems across diverse contexts.

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东地中海地区卫生安全差距：使用综合MCDM和聚类方法的比较分析

本研究旨在分析和比较2019年和2021年东地中海地区（EMR）海湾合作委员会和非海湾合作委员会国家的卫生安全绩效（HSP），认识到卫生安全在管理全球卫生威胁方面的关键作用。方法本研究利用2019年和2021年全球健康安全指数（GHSI）的数据。采用熵目标加权法确定了关键卫生安全优先事项。采用VIKOR （VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje）方法根据总体表现对国家进行排名。将k均值聚类应用于具有相似卫生安全概况的分组国家。Pearson’s和Spearman’s等级相关系数用于评估独立HSP指标与总体表现得分之间的关系。结果在2019年至2021年期间，EMR的卫生安全重点发生了重大变化，预防变得更加重要。海湾合作委员会国家强调检测和报告，而非海湾合作委员会国家优先考虑卫生系统和预防。海湾合作委员会（Gulf Cooperation Council）成员国，尤其是卡塔尔和沙特阿拉伯，一直表现出很强的HSP。相反，面临冲突和不稳定的非海湾合作委员会国家，如也门、索马里和叙利亚，表现较弱。卫生系统能力、预防、发现和报告以及风险环境与总体HSP存在显著相关性。本研究强调有必要制定量身定制的适应性政策，以解决不同地区之间的HSP差异，强调在预防、检测和报告方面的投资。它强调国际合作、改进政策实施和正在进行的研究，以加强不同背景下的全球卫生安全系统。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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