World Health Organization and the International Health Security of the Modern World - Essay Example

World Health Organization and the International Health Security of the Modern World Introduction The sense of security in the modern world transcendsmore than just its physical aspect. More to the idea is the notion of health awareness. Illnesses are some of the most important concerns not just by an average person but of countries around the world. Health hazards transcend the boundaries of state for they could be airborne, chemically process, etc. Therefore, it is every country’s obligation to prevent the culmination of diseases and their possible proliferation to other countries. There is the absence of the border in this world right now; this means that the transfer of diseases from one country to another is really not as hard as few hundred years back. The threat to national security because of the advent of globalization is also global in scope. The role that the World Health Organization attends to is so vast that it will never be able to address the problem of international health security unless the member states of WHO help as well. Of all the countries around the world, 193 are members of the World Health Organization. These countries have vowed to prevent diseases (viral and bacterial alike) from growing and possibly transferring to neighboring states. The member countries of the WHO meet regularly to make sure that possible breakout of disease is prevented and people of the world are aware on what is going. The World Health Organization uses essential fields of academic discipline in assuring the safety of the world. Medicine, as the group’s primary thrust develops cures for different illnesses that might possibly break out. Given the situation of the world and the goals of the WHO, this essay aims to address whether or not the World Health Organization serves as the guiding group into promoting health on top of the chart of health awareness around the globe. Moreover, it is a must to assess the current forms of implementation of the effectiveness of such in a modern world perspective. Finally, it must be noted how the WHO provides information to member and non-member countries on how to prevent possible spread of diseases. Global Leadership and Management The International Health Regulations (IHR) was revised in 2005 to make sure that the standards of the WHO in fighting spreading diseases are up to date. The current revision aims to empower individual countries so as they could fight the spread of diseases at their first sign. Furthermore, the IHR instructs member countries to be aware of possible ‘human biological attacks’ which might not be possible to be responded to by the World Health Organization. The challenge now is not just for the WHO but for the member countries as well to be vigilant on what’s happening on the ground so as to prevent a large-scale biological epidemic (Rodier, 2007). Now, the capacity of the countries to fight illnesses is increased and the awareness of the citizens regarding the possible spread of viruses and bacteria is even more supported by the WHO. This is primarily because of the restless effort of the organization to make sure that countries could be autonomous and are capable of surviving epidemic without asking for the rest of the world to help them. The capability of being able to respond to challenges is an essential characteristic of the state to survive. Regarding the extent of the information of the countries on their obligation and the importance of the revised IHR, Rodier (2007) explains that the purpose of the existence of the IHR is to make sure that most of the member countries are aware of what is happening. Most of these members are the ones who have initiated to create the International Health Regulation; the relevance of letting the states create their own laws that would govern the action of the organization, which is World Health Organization as a whole. Moreover, the WHO is also sponsoring seminars for the member countries to make sure that the heads of states or their representatives are well informed regarding the new mechanisms or laws created by the WHO. The world is trying to conspire for the achievement of the common good of its people and thus, a lot of university programs are offering classes that would assure people’s empowerment and cooperation through a positive intellectual discourse. The implementation of the scope of the IHR, its laws, programs and applications transcend all countries in all continents. The IHR is created to make a humanitarian commonness in which everyone is involved not just the ones who are in power. WHO At the Forefront of Shaping Global Norms and Standards for Health The common question for people is that who will monitor the activities of the member countries of World Health Organization. There is a possibility that the member states might ignore the rules provided upon by the organization for they think these rules would not necessarily help their countries. The thing is, there is no monetary incentive available for member states. What the WHO could assure is that the negligence of duties of states to provide the best treatment for the people through application of safety nets for health would then translate to the failure of the government to respond to health threats. What is happening in most African nations right now is that they are not being able to respond to even the simplest health problems because most of the African governments are not following the rules given by the WHO through the IHR. The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo (2010) has pointed out that, there is an importance of keeping every child safe from abortions and the illnesses that the child could get from the world. There are those who just let their children live in environments which are almost not possible even for adults to live to, but children are compelled by their situation to adapt. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), countries must be able to willingly assert themselves as part of the solution to eradicate global hunger and poverty. In this case, the countries are not being responsible for the health and the welfare of their citizens. Thus, the WHO African committee responds to them and teaches them how to do proper medical assistance. The values shaped by the WHO are targeted at responding to the basic needs of humans. If it is necessary to go to the darkest places of the world to make sure that health is promoted and sickness are minimized, the organization will not think twice. IHR only serves as guidance for the application of the real humanitarian policies. Countries must take the extra step in creating the initiative to make change. The first and most important part of the legislation is its power to determine the capability of the states to react at the first sign of epidemic without much help from the outside. Therefore, it is a must for members states to be vigilant and to improve their facilities and other tools to achieve better health and wellness of individuals. WHO involves itself in the challenge of the globalized and a healthy world. It is a must for nations to invest on different researches to make sure that they will be able to address the concerns of their states (Wilson, Tigerstrom, & McDougall, 2008). Partnership Created by WHO and Member States One of the most important thrusts for the development of countries globally is their capability to respond to the problems at hand. There are instances in which countries did not know what to do. A good example would be the outbreak of SARS in which it took few days before governments of the world were able to do certain strategies to contain SARS in isolated areas. It is definitely a must for the partnership of WHO and member countries to flourish. What happened in September 11, 2001 started the global craze onto how to best prevent possible scenarios from happening. Countries were so concerned on proper means to prevent the onset of possible biological, chemical and other related attacks. Countries are starting to conspire on how to best achieve global coordination and stability through cooperation. The WHO Secretariat (2001) of the organization reports that the activities of the . organization are to prevent the continuity of the spread of diseases in case that serious break out might come. The secretary furthermore argued that a lot of states have the benefit of in house medical doctor agents to make sure that countries are guided on the choices they make during pandemic situations. Therefore, the partnership of the WHO and member states is more than just in papers. Most of the time, the organization itself goes to countries, observes and provides processes to make sure that rules to solve the problems are implemented. There is no definite punishment for those countries which will not be able to respond to the needs and the policies created by the World Health Organization. The threat for these countries are: first, the people will suffer from possible diseases that might spread weakening the productivity of the country and second, the idea that most of these countries are dealing with other states is enough of a reason for them to be concerned. States would see healthy countries as good investment countries rather that those states which are not able to contain epidemic and other health conflicts inside their territories. Technology Transfer and Information Dissemination Countries must definitely find ways to invest on methods to increase their capability to build medical facilities that would address the needs of the country. The primary problem with this is that there are those which are not yet capable of having facilities created that is why they are asking the help of the WHO both in technology and information dissemination. It must be taken into account that the member countries are the ones that requested for the promotion and requirement of the improvement of their facilities and thus, they must be held accountable with their actions and intentions. Another problem with this requirement is the funding of the developing countries. It is okay for first world countries to easily get money from their trading partners as symbol of public relations and corporate social responsibility for the latter. The more pressing issue however is that there is a possibility that some third world countries bypass the quality of medical staff and medical processes which are supposedly assured by the World Health Organization. World Health Day 2009 (WHO, 2010) in one of their special reports is concerned with how the health workers of different countries are able to prepare themselves for the possibility of the outbreak of diseases in the future. This is done through the observation of past experiences and performance of certain groups on the level and the quality of their response. There are of course special community programs planned and implemented by the WHO and its partners. The two groups assure that there are things such as feeding programs, information drive regarding the importance of proper hygiene, food nutrition and the like. These are preemptive strikes done so that the protection of the people from diseases could be improved. Since the WHO recognizes that most of the time, the kind of information dissemination for countries are subjective, it is of great importance to assign people who are able to understand the needs of the citizens of the countries. An Asian has a different notion of hygiene from that of a European primarily because of the difference in climates and or cultural relativism. The WHO has invested on research to send a message to the member and non-member countries alike of the importance of having good facilities for the development of the medicine services of countries. Other troubles such as fires, earthquakes and man-made disasters are also being taken into account so that the investments that people and organization will give to developing countries will not be wasted (WebMD, 2010). Moreover, the WHO Secretariat (2001) explains in addition, that other cooperational opportunities are being sought after to improve the cooperation between countries. There is a compelling need to help and teach developing countries on proper ways to apply the policies created by WHO in accordance to IHR. A suggestion which aims to bring international groups, non-governmental organizations and governmental health bodies are being pushed through by the secretariat to make sure that the transfer of information and technological sharing between groups and member countries would be easy. The secretariat has discussed certain articles and provisions which could support the plan of actions of the WHO. Article VII of the draft Protocol of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention of 1972 could be one of the ways. The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention has become an important tool in developing and improving the situations of people in the world. The members of the convention had agreed to create more and more laws to advance the medical interests of states. Synthesis and Conclusion Despite the concept’s widespread use, its definition and scope have not been well developed. Not all health problems raise security concerns. Only in certain circumstances do the health and security domains overlap. Recently, emerging infectious diseases and bio-terrorism have incurred extensive attentions on health security. In particular, globalization helps pandemic diseases spread quickly; thus, we need to consider the damage and other consequences that globalization may have on international health security. The impact of such threats covers a broad range of divisions beyond public health issues, including trade, tourism, agriculture, transportation, and retail. For example, the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 reduced consumer confidence tremendously, which was reflected through an obvious decline in service demand (Chiu, et al., 2009; CBC, 2004; Chinese Consortium, 2004). When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) broke out in China in 2002, Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) provided a lot of ways to solve the problems; the group provided some internet-based response team that could monitor the situation of countries while faced with the diseases. Another WHO system, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GORAN) has provided the use of different laboratories for countries which are concerned regarding the possible outbreak of SARS to their soil. Furthermore, the group has started campaign drives to increase more and more facilities being send especially in areas where the disease first broke. The whole group used technology to reach out through each other via internet and web communication. Media has also played an important role in making sure that the people are safe and that the world are aware of their situation to better respond anytime needed. The WHO will never be a perfect organization for it is merely composed of individuals which are, to start with, imperfect. The challenge for the organization in a borderless world is gigantic for bacteria spread in an astronomical manner every second. While you are reading this article, perhaps several members of the WHO are fighting diseases in some parts of the world. It must be understood that policies created by IHR are guiding principles which countries must use to make sure that the health of their people are protected. The culture of health haphazardness is continuously being fought by the World Health Organization with the help of the technology and the information transfer it provides for countries. WHO is only as healthy as its weakest member. Reference List CBC, 2004. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. CBC News, [internet] 22 April. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sars/ [Accessed 13 October 2010]. Chiu, Y. et al., 2009. The nature of the international health security. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, [Online] 18 (4), pp. 679-683. Available at: http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/ [Accessed 12 October 2010]. Rodier, G., 2007. New rules on international public health security. [Online] Geneva, Switzerland: SciELO Public Health. Available at: http://www.scielosp.org/ [Accessed 13 October 2010]. Sambo, L., 2010. The WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Sambo underscores the need to accelerate efforts towards MDG4 and 5 targets. [Online] Regional Office for Africa: WHO. Available at: http://www.afro.who.int/ [Accessed 13 October 2010]. The Chinese SARS Molecular Epidemiology Consortium, 2004. Molecular evolution of the SARS Coronavirus during the course of the SARS epidemic in China. Science, [e-journal] 303 (5664). Abstract only. Available at: American Association for the Advancement of Science http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1092002 [Accessed 12 October 2010]. WebMD, 2010. Health conditions and communities. [Online] WebMD, LLC. Available at: http://www.webmd.com/ [Accessed 12 October 2010] Wilson, K. Tigerstrom, B. & McDougall, C., 2008. Protecting global health security through the International Health Regulations: requirements and challenges. Canadian Medical Association Journal, [Online] 179 (1). Available at: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/1/44 [Accessed 13 October 2010]. World Health Organization, 2010. World Health Day 2009. [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/en/index.html [Accessed 13 October 2010]. World Health Organization Secretariat, 2001. Global health security - epidemic alert and response. [Online] Available at: http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/ [Accessed 13 October 2010]. Read More