Health and Infectious Disease

Author(s):  
Gian Luca Burci

This article reviews the main international and institutional legal aspects of cooperation in the fight against the plague of infectious diseases. It makes a particular reference to the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other agencies of the UN system. This article underscores the intrinsically international dimension of the realization of the essential importance of international cooperation.

Epidemics of smallpox, cholera, plague and other infectious diseases in the world in the past were accompanied by the deaths of millions of people and often threatened humanity with destruction as a biological species. Therefore, society was forced to join forces to create an organization that would provide health protection on a global scale. On April 7, 1948, 26 UN member states created the World Health Organization, the main goal of which was to help provide the protection of health of the population of all countries of the world. Purpose of the study - analysis of the historical data of the process of creating the World Health Organization, achievements for all the years of its existence, financing in last years and formation of the opinions of authors on the role of this organization in solving health problems of all humanity. Results. The article presents data on stages of the formation of the World Health Organization. Information about positive results for more than 70 years in solving reproductive health problems, maternal and child mortality, eradicating many infectious diseases in different parts of the world and other problems is detailed. Joint resolutions of the World Health Organization with the United Nations were adopted about general and complete disarmament, protection of humanity from atomic radiation, ban on the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, defining of the role of doctors and other health workers in the preservation and strengthening of the world. Information on the World Health Organization funding is provided. The prospects for the development of the organization are described. Conclusions. The World Health Organization actively continues its work – maintains contact with international experts, governments and partners for quick collection of scientific data on a new virus, tracks its distribution and assesses its virulence, provides to countries and population recommendations on health protection measures and preventing the spread of infection. The global climatic crisis and the coronavirus infection pandemic showed that the role of the World Health Organization should increase to prevent cataclysms in some countries and globally. It is the World Health Organization that has a huge positive international experience in fighting various public health problems and it remains the only effective organization that consolidates the efforts of most countries of the world to overcome the problems of all humanity.


Author(s):  
Lara Bittmann

On December 31, 2019, WHO was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, China. A novel coronavirus was identified as the cause by Chinese authorities on January 7, 2020 and was provisionally named "2019-nCoV". This new Coronavirus causes a clinical picture which has received now the name COVID-19. The virus has spread subsequently worldwide and was explained on the 11th of March, 2020 by the World Health Organization to the pandemic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 405-424
Author(s):  
Pia Acconci

The World Health Organization (who) was established in 1946 as a specialized agency of the United Nations (un). Since its establishment, the who has managed outbreaks of infectious diseases from a regulatory, as well as an operational perspective. The adoption of the International Health Regulations (ihrs) has been an important achievement from the former perspective. When the Ebola epidemic intensified in 2014, the who Director General issued temporary recommendations under the ihrs in order to reduce the spread of the disease and minimize cross-border barriers to international trade. The un Secretary General and then the Security Council and the General Assembly have also taken action against the Ebola epidemic. In particular, the Security Council adopted a resolution under Chapter vii of the un Charter, and thus connected the maintenance of the international peace and security to the health and social emergency. After dealing with the role of the who as a guide and coordinator of the reaction to epidemics, this article shows how the action by the Security Council against the Ebola epidemic impacts on the who ‘authority’ for the protection of health.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. e0198125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Norris ◽  
Veronica Ivey Sawin ◽  
Mauricio Ferri ◽  
Laura Raques Sastre ◽  
Teegwendé V. Porgo

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Fidler

In March 2003, the world discovered, again, that I humanity's battle with infectious diseases continues. The twenty-first century began with infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, being discussed as threats to human rights, economic development, and national security. Bioterrorism in the United States in October 2001 increased concerns about pathogenic microbes. The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the spring of 2003 kept the global infectious disease challenge at the forefront of world news for weeks. At its May 2003 annual meeting, the World Health organization (WHO) asserted that SARS is “the first severe infectious disease to emerge in the twenty-first century” and “poses a serious threat to global health security, the livelihood of populations, the functioning of health systems, and the stability and growth of economies.”


Nurse Leader ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 44-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Gresh ◽  
Evi Dallman ◽  
Emily Johnson ◽  
Fernando Mena-Carrasco ◽  
Lauren Rosales ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-281
Author(s):  
Jan Klabbers

This article addresses the ecology and functioning of the World Health Organization in a time of crisis, zooming in on the pressures on both the organization and its leadership generated by the circumstance that the organization cannot avoid allocating costs and benefits when taking decisions. The article argues that the covid-19 crisis illustrates how international organizations generally and the who in particular are subjected to conflicting demands, and how this impacts on the role of decision-makers. The latter, it transpires, need to display considerable practical wisdom.


1993 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-89
Author(s):  
Graham S. Pearson

The Article in the August, 1992 issue of Politics and the Life Sciences by Erhard Geissler proposing the establishment of an international Vaccines for Peace (VFP) program to undertake research on and production of vaccines against pathogens (and possible toxins) that pose natural health threats is warmly welcomed. VFP is designed to contribute to health care in developing countries and to enhance international cooperation in biotechnology; it would be administered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Such a program would bring real and tangible benefits to developing countries and encourage participation by such countries in the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention signed in 1972.


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