Contemporary Developments and Perspectives in International Health Security - Volume 3 [Working Title]

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Health ◽  
Health Security

Communicable Diseases, Health Security, and Human Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 221-242
Author(s):  
Sharifah Sekalala ◽  
John Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
International Health ◽  
Early Response ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
The Right

This chapter examines the influence of human rights in the quest to control communicable diseases. Communicable diseases are emerging and spreading faster than ever before, with devastating consequences for the most vulnerable in a rapidly globalizing world. Human rights have come to frame infectious disease control, beginning in the early response to AIDS and expanding from the stigmatization of marginalized populations to include the provision of essential medicines. Human rights claims have correspondingly expanded, arising out of norms of non-discrimination, consent, and privacy and now including the right to health. As individual rights compete with state authority, the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) International Health Regulations (2005) aim to guide states in a rights-based response to communicable disease. However, as seen in recent Ebola outbreaks, human rights have lost priority to health security as the dominant frame for health policy, and this securitization of communicable disease control may undermine the gains of human rights, risking the future of global health.

scholarly journals The Stellenbosch Consensus on Legal National Responses to Public Health Risks

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-68
Author(s):  
Roojin Habibi ◽  
Steven J. Hoffman ◽  
Gian Luca Burci ◽  
Thana Cristina de Campos ◽  
Danwood Chirwa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Health Regulations

Abstract The International Health Regulations (ihr), of which the World Health Organization is custodian, govern how countries collectively promote global health security, including prevention, detection, and response to global health emergencies such as the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. Countries are permitted to exercise their sovereignty in taking additional health measures to respond to such emergencies if these measures adhere to Article 43 of this legally binding instrument. Overbroad measures taken during recent public health emergencies of international concern, however, reveal that the provision remains inadequately understood. A shared understanding of the measures legally permitted by Article 43 is a necessary step in ensuring the fulfillment of obligations, and fostering global solidarity and resilience in the face of future pandemics. In this consensus statement, public international law scholars specializing in global health consider the legal meaning of Article 43 using the interpretive framework of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

scholarly journals Ebola and the airplane – securing mobility through regime interactions and legal adaptation

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (01) ◽  
pp. 71-89
Author(s):  
Gearóid Ó Cuinn ◽  
Stephanie Switzer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Function ◽  
A Site

AbstractThis article concentrates on a particular controversy during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa; the mass cancellation of flights to and from affected countries. This occurred despite authoritative advice against such restrictions from the World Health Organization (WHO). During a public health emergency such as Ebola, the airplane sits at a site of regulatory uncertainty as it falls within the scope of two specialist and overlapping domains of international law; the WHO International Health Regulations (2005) and the Convention on International Civil Aviation. We explore how legal technicalities and objects, by promoting functional interactions between these two specialized regimes of law, were utilized to deal with this uncertainty. We show how the form and function of these mundane tools had a significant impact; assimilating aviation further into the system of global health security as well as instrumentalizing the aircraft as a tool of disease surveillance. This encounter of regimes was law creating, resulting in new international protocols and standards designed to enable the resumption of flights in and out of countries affected by outbreaks. This article therefore offers significant and original insights into the hidden work performed by legal techniques and tools in dealing with regime overlap. Our findings contribute to the wider international law literature on fragmentation and enrich our understanding of the significance of relational regime interactions in international law.

Waterborne Disease Surveillance: The Case for a Closer Interaction between the UNECE Protocol on Water and Health and the International Health Regulations (2005)

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-302
Author(s):  
Stefania Negri
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
International Health ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Waterborne Diseases ◽  
Health Security ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Legal Frameworks

AbstractThe UNECE Protocol on Water and Health prioritises prevention and control of waterborne diseases in the European Region. In order to protect public health from water-related outbreaks, the Protocol mandates the Parties to establish, improve and maintain comprehensive national and local surveillance as well as early warning systems. It also promotes international cooperation among Member States and fosters the development of joint and coordinated action aimed to complement or strengthen national capacities of response. Coordination and liaison with competent international agencies and organisations acting in the field of public health and disease surveillance is instead almost completely neglected. Despite the gap in the agreement, the relevance to the Protocol of existing surveillance networks has increasingly been acknowledged. Following this trend, the Protocol Bodies are exploring the opportunities for a closer interaction with regional and global alert and response systems. This effort is commendable, but much more can be done to reach a more intense cooperation and achieve a globally integrated system of disease surveillance. Harmonisation of legal frameworks (in this case, the UNECE Protocol, the EU legislation and the IHR 2005) and a better synergy among relevant networks will enhance protection of global health security, avoid useless duplications of efforts, and ensure coherence of the whole body of international law on public health.

scholarly journals Strengthening health security: an intuitive and user-friendly tool to estimate country-level costs

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. e000864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Katz ◽  
Ellie Graeden ◽  
Stephanie Eaneff ◽  
Justin Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
International Health ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
International Health Regulations ◽  
Cost Estimates ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Country Level ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Health Regulations

Member States of the WHO working to build capacity under the International Health Regulations (IHR) are advised to develop prioritised, costed plans to implement improvements based on the results of voluntary external assessments. Defining the costs associated with capacity building under the IHR, however, has challenged nations, funders and supporting organisations. Most current efforts to develop costed national action plans involve long-term engagements that may take weeks or months to complete. While these efforts have value in and of themselves, there is an urgent need for a rapid-use tool to provide cost estimates regardless of the level of expertise of the personnel assigned to the task. In this paper, we describe a tool that can—in a matter of hours—provide country-level cost estimates for capacity building under the IHR. This paper also describes how the tool can be used in countries, as well as the challenges inherent in any costing process.

scholarly journals Developing a multisectoral National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) to implement the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) in Tanzania

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e000600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janneth M Mghamba ◽  
Ambrose O Talisuna ◽  
Ludy Suryantoro ◽  
Grace Elizabeth Saguti ◽  
Martin Muita ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Plan ◽  
International Health ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
World Health ◽  
International Health Regulations ◽  
Member States ◽  
Health Security ◽  
National Action Plan ◽  
Health Regulations

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa precipitated a renewed momentum to ensure global health security through the expedited and full implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) in all WHO member states. The updated IHR (2005) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework was shared with Member States in 2015 with one mandatory component, that is, States Parties annual reporting to the World Health Assembly (WHA) on compliance and three voluntary components: Joint External Evaluation (JEE), After Action Reviews and Simulation Exercises. In February 2016, Tanzania, was the first country globally to volunteer to do a JEE and the first to use the recommendations for priority actions from the JEE to develop a National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) by February 2017. The JEE demonstrated that within the majority of the 47 indicators within the 19 technical areas, Tanzania had either ‘limited capacity’ or ‘developed capacity’. None had ‘sustainable capacity’. With JEE recommendations for priority actions, recommendations from other relevant assessments and complementary objectives, Tanzania developed the NAPHS through a nationwide consultative and participatory process. The 5-year cost estimate came out to approximately US$86.6 million (22 million for prevent, 50 million for detect, 4.8 million for respond and 9.2 million for other IHR hazards and points of entry). However, with the inclusion of vaccines for zoonotic diseases in animals increases the cost sevenfold. The importance of strong country ownership and committed leadership were identified as instrumental for the development of operationally focused NAPHS that are aligned with broader national plans across multiple sectors. Key lessons learnt by Tanzania can help guide and encourage other countries to translate their JEE priority actions into a realistic costed NAPHS for funding and implementation for IHR (2005).

scholarly journals Global health security and the International Health Regulations

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. S2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Andrus ◽  
Ximena Aguilera ◽  
Otavio Oliva ◽  
Sylvain Aldighieri
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
International Health Regulations ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Health Regulations
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