Prevention and Control of Diseases - Research Paper Example

To date, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is regarded as the biggest economic alliance in West Africa. ECOWAS has fifteen (15) member states Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee, Guinee Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and the Congolese Republic (Shillington, 2005; “ECOWAS”, 2009). The ECOWAS has the following aims:Like the ECOWAS, the European Union (EU), the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the South African Development Community (SADAC) are regional integration schemes aimed at boosting up the economy in their sphere3 by way of free trade and free movement of persons and goods.

It has already been recognized, however, as early as the dawn of the 20th century that free movement of people and goods increase the chances of cross-border transmission of communicable diseases. This was one of the main considerations for the drafting of international health regulations, primarily from the International Sanitary Conference held in 1851. From the same conference, the following facts about public health were also recognized: (1) public health concerns can rationalize the need for trade barriers, and that (2) quarantine is not really an impediment to free trade.

It is surprising to note, however, that it was only after 59 years (i. e. 1950) that the World Health Organization (WHO) member states concurred to notify each other about specific communicable diseases and follow measures allowed by countries to safeguard the health of their constituents (WHO, 2009).In the ECOWAS, the West African Regional Programme for Health, commonly by the acronym PRSAO4, was set up primarily to strengthen regional integration in West Africa through the coordination of health policies; assist in the free movement of goods, people, services and technologies and contribute in the enhancement of the delivery of health systems in the region.