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Adapting International Health Regulations to a Smaller World
American Corner | 2013-01-31 16:15
A couple stands in front of a display of 2,000 candles lighted in memory of the victims of HIV/AIDS in Copenhagen, Denmark, on World AIDS Day.
On May 23, 2005, the World Health Assembly(WHA) approved International Health Regulationsto manage public health emergencies of internationalconcern. The new rules are geared to “prevent, protectagainst, control, and provide a public health responseto the international spread of disease,” according to theWorld Health Organization (WHO).
The regulationsalso reflect the changing nature of global diseases sinceadoption in 1969.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary MikeLeavit, speaking to the WHA on May 16, 2005, said,“Adoption of the revised regulations will be a veryeffective tool in our efforts to respond to the challengesposed by biological, chemical, and radiologicalthreats to public health, whether naturally occurring,deliberate, or accidental.”According to the WHO, the original InternationalHealth Regulations adopted in 1969 were designedto help monitor and control four serious infectiousdiseases—cholera, plague, yellow fever, and smallpox.
The new regulations require states to notify the WHOin the event of all events and diseases that “mayconstitute a public health emergency of internationalconcern.” States must also report evidence of publichealth risks outside their territory that may causeinternational disease spread.The revised regulations stress broader obligations tobuild national capacity for routine preventive measures,as well as to detect and respond to public healthemergencies of international concern. These routinemeasures include public health actions at ports, airports,and land borders, and other means of transportationthat are used to travel internationally.As noted by the WHO, the purpose of theInternational Health Regulations is to ensure themaximum protection of people against the internationalspread of diseases, while minimizing interference withworld travel and trade.
“The existing regulations were written for a verydifferent world from the one we live in today. Air travelwas a luxury, and the movement of goods and peoplearound the world was relatively slow,” said Dr. GuenaelRodier, WHO director of communicable diseasesurveillance and response.
“Today, travel and tradehave expanded far beyond what was envisaged underthe original regulations. The new rules respond to aglobalized, 24-hour world in which a disease outbreakin one country can rapidly move around the world.”
The regulationsalso reflect the changing nature of global diseases sinceadoption in 1969.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary MikeLeavit, speaking to the WHA on May 16, 2005, said,“Adoption of the revised regulations will be a veryeffective tool in our efforts to respond to the challengesposed by biological, chemical, and radiologicalthreats to public health, whether naturally occurring,deliberate, or accidental.”According to the WHO, the original InternationalHealth Regulations adopted in 1969 were designedto help monitor and control four serious infectiousdiseases—cholera, plague, yellow fever, and smallpox.
The new regulations require states to notify the WHOin the event of all events and diseases that “mayconstitute a public health emergency of internationalconcern.” States must also report evidence of publichealth risks outside their territory that may causeinternational disease spread.The revised regulations stress broader obligations tobuild national capacity for routine preventive measures,as well as to detect and respond to public healthemergencies of international concern. These routinemeasures include public health actions at ports, airports,and land borders, and other means of transportationthat are used to travel internationally.As noted by the WHO, the purpose of theInternational Health Regulations is to ensure themaximum protection of people against the internationalspread of diseases, while minimizing interference withworld travel and trade.
“The existing regulations were written for a verydifferent world from the one we live in today. Air travelwas a luxury, and the movement of goods and peoplearound the world was relatively slow,” said Dr. GuenaelRodier, WHO director of communicable diseasesurveillance and response.
“Today, travel and tradehave expanded far beyond what was envisaged underthe original regulations. The new rules respond to aglobalized, 24-hour world in which a disease outbreakin one country can rapidly move around the world.”
