The Control of Infectious Diseases in International Law: Focusing on Implementation of and Compliance with the International Health Regulations

ABSTRACTGlobal public health surveillance is critical for the identification and prevention of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. The World Health Organization recently released revised International Health Regulations (IHR) that serve as global legislation and provide guidelines for surveillance systems. The IHR aim to identify and prevent spread of these infectious diseases; however, there are some practical challenges that limit the usability of these regulations. IHR requires Member States to build necessary infrastructure for global surveillance, which may not be possible in underdeveloped countries. A large degree of freedom is given to each individual government and therefore different levels of reporting are common, with substantial emphasis on passive reporting. The IHR need to be enforceable and enforced without impinging on government autonomy or human rights. Unstable governments and developing countries require increased assistance in setting up and maintaining surveillance systems. This article addresses some challenges and potential solutions to the ability of national governments to adhere to the global health surveillance requirements detailed in the IHR. The authors review some practical challenges such as inadequate surveillance and reporting infrastructure, and legal enforcement and maintenance of individual human rights. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2007;1:117–121)

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The New International Health Regulations: An Historic Development for International Law and Public Health

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1111/j.1748-720x.2006.00011.x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 85-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

David P. Fidler ◽

Lawrence O. Gostin

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

International Law ◽

International Health ◽

World Health ◽

Director General ◽

International Health Regulations ◽

Health Security ◽

Narrow Scope ◽

Historic Development ◽

Health Regulations

The World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted the new International Health Regulations (IHR) on May 23, 2005. The new IHR represent the culmination of a decade-long revision process and an historic development for international law and public health. The new IHR appear at a moment when public health, security, and democracy have become intertwined, addressed at the highest levels of government. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, for example, identified IHR revision as a priority for moving humanity toward “larger freedom.” This article analyzes the new IHR and their implications for global health and security in the 21st century.The WHA instructed the WHO Director-General (DG) to revise the IHR in 1995 because the Regulations did not provide an effective framework for addressing the international spread of disease. Doubts about the IHR's effectiveness had, however, been present long before 1995. The critiques identified the narrow scope of the regulations (applying only to a small number of infectious diseases), the lack of compliance by states, and the absence of a strategy for responding to rapid changes in public health's global economic and technological environments.

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Challenges to the implementation of International Health Regulations (2005) on Preventing Infectious Diseases: experience from Julius Nyerere International Airport, Tanzania

Global Health Action ◽

10.3402/gha.v6i0.20942 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 20942 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Edith Bakari ◽

Gasto Frumence

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

International Health ◽

International Health Regulations ◽

International Airport ◽

Health Regulations

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Emergency Situation in the Sphere of Population Sanitary and Epidemiologic Welfare as Unified Object of Surveillance and Active Response in the Scope of Up-To-Date Strategy of Infectious Diseases Control

Problems of Particularly Dangerous Infections ◽

10.21055/0370-1069-2009-2(100)-5-10 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 5-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A.V. Toporkov ◽

V.P. Toporkov ◽

A.E. Shiyanova ◽

V.V. Kutyrev

Keyword(s):

Infectious Diseases ◽

International Health ◽

Emergency Situation ◽

International Health Regulations ◽

Active Response ◽

Normative Documents ◽

Epidemiologic Surveillance ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

Health Regulations ◽

Purposeful Activity

Implementation of G8 Summit resolutions (2006) in the sphere of infectious diseases control and completing of modernization of the Russian specialized anti-epidemic teams (SAET) of Rospotrebnazor anti-plague institutes, including their usage abroad, assume identification of the unified object of their purposeful activity. Emergency situation in the sphere of population sanitary and epidemiologic welfare was specified within the normative documents as the unified object of epidemiologic surveillance, sanitary protection, prevention and liquidation of emergency epidemic situations, biosafety provision in the course of International Health Regulations (2005) implementation in the territory of the Russian Federation. This definition is suggested as the object of SAET activity.

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