CIAO DATE: 07/06

Global Issues

Adapting International Health Regulations to a Smaller World

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 Regulations to manage public health emergencies of international concern. The new rules are geared to "prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease," according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The regulations also reflect the changing nature of global diseases since adoption in 1969.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavit, speaking to the WHA on May 16, 2005, said, "Adoption of the revised regulations will be a very effective tool in our efforts to respond to the challenges posed by biological, chemical, and radiological threats to public health, whether naturally occurring, deliberate, or accidental."

According to the WHO, the original International Health Regulations adopted in 1969 were designed to help monitor and control four serious infectious diseases—cholera, plague, yellow fever, and smallpox. The new regulations require states to notify the WHO in the event of all events and diseases that "may constitute a public health emergency of international concern." States must also report evidence of public health risks outside their territory that may cause international disease spread.

The revised regulations stress broader obligations to build national capacity for routine preventive measures, as well as to detect and respond to public health emergencies of international concern. These routine measures include public health actions at ports, airports, and land borders, and other means of transportation that are used to travel internationally.

As noted by the WHO, the purpose of the International Health Regulations is to ensure the maximum protection of people against the international spread of diseases, while minimizing interference with world travel and trade.

"The existing regulations were written for a very different world from the one we live in today. Air travel was a luxury, and the movement of goods and people around the world was relatively slow," said Dr. Guenael Rodier, WHO director of communicable disease surveillance and response. "Today, travel and trade have expanded far beyond what was envisaged under the original regulations. The new rules respond to a globalized, 24-hour world in which a disease outbreak in one country can rapidly move around the world."

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.

SOURCES:

http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/May/20-582917.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr_wha03/en/index.html