International SOS has released an interactive map that maps medical risk in countries. The map assesses all health risks, mitigating factors, publically available data and other sources. Factors that are included in medical risk are infectious diseases, environmental factors, the quality and availability of local emergency medical and dental care, access to pharmaceutical supplies, the requirement for medical evacuation, and cultural, language or administrative barriers.
The map shows countries as low risk, medium risk, high risk, very high risk and rapidly developing variable risk.
Low risk countries, marked in Green, are those that have fairly decent standard of care, medical care is widely available, emergency service is high quality and there is very low risk of infectious diseases. US, Canada, Australia and most European countries are low risk countries.
Medium risk countries, marked in yellow, have decent medical standards but there is a risk of infectious diseases like malaria or dengue, or food or water contamination. Mexico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Namibia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Eastern European countries are medium risk countries.
Marked in orange, the high risk countries have basic medical services but lack of specialist services. There is also a high risk of counterfeit drugs and diseases like typhoid and cholera in these countries. Myanmar, Algeria, Thailand and Nepal are among the high risk countries.
In very high-risk countries, healthcare is negligible. And primary care, emergency care or dental services. Quality prescription drugs are usually not available. There is a high risk for food or water-borne infections. Serious infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria, typhoid, and cholera may pose a threat. These countries are marked in red. Mostly the poor and underdeveloped countries like Niger, South Sudan, or war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria are very high-risk zone.
Countries marked under Rapidly Developing Variable Risk have a huge difference in the quality of medical care in their big cities and other smaller cities and towns. In big cities, decent medical facilities would be available, while in smaller cities and towns, the quality of service may not be on par. India, China, Brazil, Russia and Kazakhstan are marked in brown as rapidly developing risk countries.
