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THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IN THE 21st CENTURY
For a time in the mid-late 20th Century, it looked to some people as if human
beings had all but conquered infectious disease. The polio vaccine had been
discovered, smallpox was on the way out, and numerous other infections that
ravaged the human population for millennia were finally being brought under
control.
However, the modern era has not been as kind to human beings as some people
might have thought thirty years ago. While warfare accounts for 0.3% of all
human deaths globally, communicable diseases account for 26%. The appearance of
HIV/AIDS, avian flu, the Ebola virus, and SARS, among others, surprised people
in the industrialized world who thought large-scale death from disease was
safely in their past. These emerging threats, together with the stubborn
persistence of mass killers like malaria and tuberculosis in developing
countries, have forced policymakers to reconsider the threat posed by disease
and the proper response.
It is imperative that the U.S. fully fund its part of the World Health
Organization (WHO) budget and promote a more predictable and reliable funding
regime for that institution. Given the ease with which diseases can spread
in today’s globalizing world, we are dependent more than ever on the ability of
the WHO to detect diseases and alert the world to their presence. This is
extremely apparent in the case of the flu. WHO’s influenza monitoring network is
crucial in detecting dangerous new strains, like the avian influenzas that
recently began inflicting humans.
WHO also determines which strains of the flu to include in each year’s vaccine
based on the risk they each pose. In the 20th century, flu epidemics were
lethal: an epidemic in 1919-1920 caused between 40 and 50 million deaths
worldwide, and the 1957 Asian flu and the 1968 Hong Kong flu took many lives as
well. While experts agree that epidemics are inevitable, they also agree that
epidemics can be controlled. WTO has since taken giant steps to prevent these
disasters from reoccurring in such great magnitude.
The story with SARS is similar. SARS was discovered in China and before long was
transmitted around the world; experts believed it might take millions of lives
if not addressed immediately. WHO acted quickly to bring together information
and resources from around the globe to take on the disease. Within a month, the
cooperation led to identification of the virus that causes SARS, and WHO itself
led the charge in disseminating information throughout the world on how to
contain its spread.
However, WHO currently runs on a shoestring budget that limits the scope of its
work. Its annual budget is currently $421 million – roughly equivalent to the
cost of building the American Airlines Center, a sports arena, in Dallas, or
less than 1/3 of the proposed cost of the proposed stadium for the New York Jets
on the west side of Manhattan in New York City.
In the past, disease epidemics have been limited in scope to specific cities or
regions of the world. Today, though, every fast-spreading epidemic has the
potential to afflict people in any country. If we work in concert with other
nations to support and expand the work of the WTO, we have an excellent chance
of controlling dangerous pathogens. If we do not, no amount of domestic spending
or effort can shield us from global epidemics.
Last Updated March 15, 2005
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