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WHO can restrict global travel and trade { May 23 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-un-health-regulations,0,6585134.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlineshttp://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-un-health-regulations,0,6585134.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines
WHO OKs Procedures for Disease Outbreaks
By UTA HARNISCHFEGER
Associated Press Writer
May 23, 2005, 7:17 AM EDT
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization on Monday adopted a new set of global health procedures designed to better control outbreaks of dangerous diseases, action spurred by growing fears of a pandemic sparked by SARS or the bird flu.
The new regulations will empower WHO to restrict worldwide travel and commerce to and from affected areas. They'll also allow officials to demand more information from countries in case of an outbreak.
"This is a major step forward for international health," said WHO chief Dr. Lee Jong-wook. "These new regulations recognize that diseases do not respect national boundaries. They are urgently needed to help limit the threats to public health."
The new rules, adopted at the annual meeting of the U.N. health agency's key decision-making body, outline the terms under which countries must notify disease outbreaks to WHO, including how quickly and details of the infection.
According to the text agreed upon Monday, WHO member states must put the new procedures into national law within two years, unless they raise an objection with the health agency within 18 months. If a country rejects the regulations, it does not have to comply.
Last week, WHO said bird flu may be capable of human-to-human transmission, raising the specter of a global pandemic. Although only a few dozen people have so far died from bird flu since it appeared in 2003, experts fear that if the virus mutates to allow easy transmission among humans, it could spread rapidly, potentially killing millions of people.
The current regulations have been on the drafting table since 2003, after the outbreak of new and more infectious diseases such as SARS, Ebola and bird flu made the international community more wary of worldwide pandemics. The original regulations date back to 1969, when the list of diseases included only cholera, the plague and yellow fever.
It is the first time that the regulations include public health threats resulting from bioterrorism, chemicals spills or Chernobyl-type nuclear accidents.
The new regulations will force countries to notify WHO immediately in case of an outbreak of smallpox, new types of influenza, SARS and wild polio in areas where it had been eradicated. The rules also set out exact procedures for other potentially deadly diseases.
"WHO now has more power to demand information," said Guenael Rodier, WHO's head of communicable diseases surveillance and response. "And countries realize that even if they don't tell us we will find out anyway."
The regulations will significantly strengthen WHO's ability to combat outbreaks, he said. For example, the health agency will be able to act on information from non-governmental sources such as private health groups rather than rely only on countries themselves.
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