[EQ] Global Health and Foreign Policy

Global Health and Foreign Policy

Harley Feldbaum, Kelley Lee and Joshua Michaud

Global Health and Foreign Policy Initiative, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC (Harley Feldbaum, Joshua Michaud); and Public and Environmental Health Research Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom (Kelley Lee).

Epidemiologic Reviews, doi:10.1093/epirev/mxq006 – June 2010

Website: http://bit.ly/cBx5MJ

“……Health has long been intertwined with the foreign policies of states. In recent years, however, global health issues have risen to the highest levels of international politics and have become accepted as legitimate issues in foreign policy.

This elevated political priority is in many ways a welcome development for proponents of global health, and it has resulted in increased funding for and attention to select global health issues. However, there has been less examination of the tensions that characterize the relationship between global health and foreign policy and of the potential effects of linking global health efforts with the foreign-policy interests of states.

In this paper, the authors review the relationship between global health and foreign policy by examining the roles of health across 4 major components of foreign policy: aid, trade, diplomacy, and national security. For each of these aspects of foreign policy, the authors review current and historical issues and discuss how foreign-policy interests have aided or impeded global health efforts. The increasing relevance of global health to foreign policy holds both opportunities and dangers for global efforts to improve health….”

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
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[EQ] Trends and Directions of Global Public Health Surveillance

Trends and Directions of Global Public Health Surveillance

Carlos Castillo-Salgado, Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD USA
Epidemiologic Reviews -  Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

June 9, 2010 DOI: 10.1093/epirev/mxq008

Website: http://bit.ly/bJHCu2

“………..Recently, global health and global health surveillance have received unprecedented recognition of their importance because of the newly emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, new cycles of pandemics, and the threats of bioterrorism.

 

The aim of this review is to provide an update of the current state of knowledge on health surveillance in a globalized world. Three key areas will be highlighted in this review:

1) the role of the new International Health Regulations,
2) the emergence of new global health networks for surveillance and bioterrorism, and
3) the reshaping of guidelines for the collection, dissemination, and interventions in global surveillance.

 

A discussion is also presented of the more important challenges of global health surveillance. Global surveillance has been reshaped by important changes in the new International Health Regulations and the rapid development of new global networks for disease surveillance and bioterrorism. These networks provide for the first time at the global scale real-time information about potential outbreaks and epidemics of newly emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.

 

The recent outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic provide evidence of the benefits of the new global monitoring and of the importance of the World Health Organization in its coordinating role in the multilateral response of the global public health community….”

 

“…….There is agreement among the different reviewed professional assessments that key constraints and challenges for global public health are as follows:

1. The development of core capacities for new surveillance and response systems for developing countries is affected by the lack or shortages of resources, limited trained national staff and officials, and weak networks of laboratories.

2. Many countries have multiple independent surveillance and health information systems with limited coordination and no interoperability.

3. Laboratory facilities in many developing countries are not familiar with quality assurance and control principles and regulations, and a large percentage of their equipment is obsolete or not functioning.

4. Joint surveillance protocols and innovative systems of early detection of emerging diseases of animal origin that might threaten human health are needed. There is also a pressing need to have better integration and close collaboration of zoonotic and human surveillance systems.

5. The global disease monitoring through automated classification and visualization of events using electronic means is a limited option in many countries where the technologic divide is extreme. Large numbers of countries or areas in the interior of the countries have no access to the Internet or to basic computerized systems.

6. Local health facilities in a large number of countries have limited operating telecommunications and transportation capabilities available.

7. Traditionally, official surveillance systems are operated by staff not linked to the response teams, and the information collected is outdated and fragmented.

8. Many countries with severe human rights protection problems have difficulty maintaining the principles of fairness, objectivity, and transparency.

9. Compliance with global health regulations will require constant economic and technical cooperation with poorer countries……..”

 

 

*      *     *

This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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