This commentary examines what recent Hantavirus and Ebolavirus outbreaks reveal about weaknesses in international health preparedness. The Andes virus cluster linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship showed that even a rare rodent-borne disease can become a cross-border concern when passengers and crew travel. The Ebola outbreak in Central Africa highlighted how high-fatality outbreaks become harder to control when health systems are fragile. Together, the two outbreaks show that global health security cannot be built on pandemic planning alone.
Infectious disease and related health concerns have rarely found a place in the national security discourse in the past. Of late, the issue has assumed prominence and managed to enter into the national security debate. Disease spread poses a threat to human security and national security.
Within a gap of eight years, the plague has struck twice in India. The outbreaks caused panic and necessitated an urgent assessment of our public health apparatus vis-a-vis our vulnerability towards infectious diseases. Generally speaking, the resurgence of epidemics and their effects on society demonstrated at least three vital national security issues.
In Conversation with David P. Fidler (CFR) on the Proposed Pandemic Treaty, Global Health, and India
"I do not think a pandemic treaty is a good response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing in the WHO-sponsored negotiation process so far has changed my perspective," says global health expert David P. Fidler, Senior Fellow at Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the author of "A New U.S.
Within weeks of its emergence in the Chinese city of Wuhan (Hubei province) in late December 2019, the novel Coronavirus has engulfed 213 countries and territories worldwide. Now infamous as Covid-19 Pandemic, the contagion has already killed over 850000 people (as of August 28, 2020).