Impediments to Global Surveillance of Infectious Disease: Economic and social consequences of open reporting
- PDF / 118,090 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 536 x 697 pts Page_size
- 98 Downloads / 161 Views
Development. Copyright © 1999 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (199912) 42:4; 115–120; 010937.
Governance and Health
Impediments to Global Surveillance of Infectious Disease: Economic and social consequences of open reporting RICHARD A. CASH A N D VA S A N T NARASIMHAN1
ABSTRACT Richard Cash and Vasant Narasimhan look at how globalization has increased the speed and scale of infectious disease spread. They show how international efforts are being launched to efficiently control the spread of infectious disease using global surveillance.
Global surveillance today The international spread of cholera, HIV, tuberculosis, and concern over Ebola Fever and other ‘exotic diseases’ has startled the international community into initiatives aimed at cooperative surveillance of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease (ERIDS) (Heymann and Rodier, 1998: 362–5). In 1995 the World Health Assembly expressed its concern ‘urging all member states to strengthen surveillance for infectious disease in order to promptly detect re-emerging diseases and identify new infectious diseases’ (WHO, 1996a). The Assembly noted that the success of this resolution depended on accurate information on disease outbreaks and a willingness to share this information. Two recent reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have outlined plans to control ERIDS (WHO, 1996b; US Centers for Disease Control, 1998). WHO recently admonished member states for failing to seriously address infectious diseases and warned of possible international outbreaks in the future (WHO, 1999a). Efforts to improve global surveillance for ERIDS are underway and are making progress. However, in order for complete and accurate reporting to be achieved, more attention must be given to preventing the often harsh international responses, especially against poorer nations that report disease outbreaks. The current global surveillance initiative, directed in many respects by WHO, consists of a network of information sources and the International Health Regulations (IHR) that in theory compels nations to report. WHO plans to utilize a variety of sources, classified as formal or informal, to compile
26 – Cash 21/10/99 9:56 am Page 116
Development 42(4): Governance and Health information on potentially dangerous outbreaks. The formal sources of information include government and university research centres, WHO offices, other UN agencies, military networks, government clinics, individual scientists, and public health practitioners. Informal sources of information exist largely because of advances in communications and include Internet sites, e-mail list-serves, and other sources. In addition, WHO maintains a rumor page where hundreds of postings occur each day; the primary aim is to verify rumors, not repeat them. News organizations serve as a valuable source of information regarding outbreaks and search engines can rapidly scan the WWW looki
Data Loading...
