How Dr. Chan Intends to Defend the Planet from Pandemics

Diseases can emerge on any point on the globe, spreading quickly, and health providers cannot have vaccines ready for every disease in every location. Complicating the treatment of any infectious disease: Entities within any country may regard disease as a business opportunity, a security risk, a reason for shame or a matter to hide. Indonesia only recently provided the World Health Organization (WHO) with avian-flu sample strains, after expressing concern that pharmaceutical firms will use the strains to make vaccines that developing nations cannot afford. To guarantee fast treatment, nations like Indonesia would prefer the ability to manufacture vaccines within their own borders. In response to such concerns, Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, plans to create a global stockpile of avian-flu vaccine, with donations from pharmaceutical firms, which can be rushed to any location. Still, early detection is the best method of prevention. A new treaty requires governments to cooperate with the WHO, reporting potential pandemics within 24 hours, according to the Economist. Under the treaty, the WHO is no longer limited to government reports, but can also rely on non-governmental organizations, internet or media reports. In recent years, WHO intervened in more than 70 disease outbreaks that unchecked could have led to global crises. The new treaty should lend speed to any future response. – YaleGlobal