The capacity to conduct international disease outbreak surveillance and share information about outbreaks quickly has empowered both State and Non-State Actors to take an active role in stopping the spread of disease by generating new technical means to identify potential pandemics through the creation of shared reporting platforms. Despite all the rhetoric about the importance of infectious disease surveillance, the concept itself has received relatively little critical attention from academics, practitioners, and policymakers. This book asks leading contributors in the field to engage with five key issues attached to international disease outbreak surveillance - transparency, local engagement, practical needs, integration, and appeal - to illuminate the political effect of these technologies on those who use surveillance, those who respond to surveillance, and those being monitored.

Over the past few decades a number of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have disrupted societies throughout the world, including HIV, Ebola, H5N1 (or ‘‘avian flu’’) and SARS, and of course the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which spread worldwide to become a global pandemic. As well as EIDs, countries and regions also contend with endemic diseases, such as malaria. There are many factors that have contributed to the rise in, and spread of, EIDs and other diseases, including overpopulation, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and antibiotic resistance. Political and cultural responses to disease can greatly affect their spread. The global community needs to defend itself against disease threats: one weak link is enough to start a chain reaction that results in a global pandemic such as COVID-19. Some states take a nationalistic approach towards combating disease; however, international cooperation and meaningful ‘‘viral sovereignty’’—empowering countries to create effective health institutions and surveillance systems in order to contain disease—must be considered. This volume, with a focus on Southeast Asia, Africa and North America, considers the intersection between disease, politics, science, and culture in the global battle against pandemics, making use of case studies and interviews to examine the ways in which governments and regions handle outbreaks and pandemics.

It’s a cliché to say that diseases do not respect national borders, but the realities of this aphorism present serious and significant challenges to the global community. Health and disease are intimately connected with the movement of people, goods, and ideas that are emblematic of globalization. This book examines the various dimensions of the intersections between globalization and health, calling attention to the challenges these relationships present and the opportunities for cross-border collaboration and solidarity.

This book explores how potential bio-threats and risks may evolve post 9/11 given the rapid changes in biotechnology and synthetic biology. It also explores what role intelligence communities can play in understanding threats and risks. It argues that although bio-threats and risks are largely low probability and high impact in nature, intelligence in ‘Five Eyes’ countries remain insufficiently prepared to understand them. This book identifies key areas where intelligence reforms need to take place including a more strategic and systematic collaboration between national security/law enforcement intelligence and the scientific community. It is aimed at intelligence analysts, those in the scientific community working on health security threats, policy makers and researchers working on biosecurity and bioterrorism threats and risks.

International responses to the outbreak of SARS, the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of health as a human right all demonstrate how global politics have a profound effect on the way we think about and respond to major health challenges. Despite a growing interest in the relationship between health and international relations there has yet to be a systematic study of the links between them. Global Politics of Health aims to fill this gap - ultimately showing how world politics can be good, or bad, for your health. This book calls for a more nuanced understanding of the nature of the current global health crisis and the political dilemmas faced by those responsible for the development and implementation of responses to it. By charting these debates and showing how they shape the way actors think about key issues relating to health, such as people movement, infectious disease, the business of health, and the consequences of war, this volume provides an innovative and comprehensive introduction to health and international relations for students of global politics, health studies and related disciplines.

Providing an immediate, contemporary example of a region networking its response to disease outbreak events, this insightful book will appeal to global health governance scholars, students, and practitioners.

“Makes a significant contribution to China studies [and] provides important clues about the state of preparation for global health challenges.” ―China Review International The SARS epidemic of 2003 was one of the most serious public health crises of our times. The event, which lasted only a few months, is best seen as a warning shot, a wake-up call for public health professionals, security officials, economic planners, and policymakers everywhere. SARS in China addresses the structure and impact of the epidemic and its short and medium range implications for an interconnected, globalized world. Warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made it clear that SARS may have been a prelude to bigger things. The authors of this volume focus on specific aspects of the SARS outbreak—epidemiological, political, economic, social, cultural, and moral. They analyze SARS as a form of social suffering and raise questions about the relevance of national sovereignty in the face of such global threats. Taken together, these essays demonstrate that SARS had the potential of becoming a major turning point in human history. This book forces us to ask what we have learned from SARS as we go on to face newer, and farther-reaching, pandemics. The more recent COVID-19 outbreak amplifies the urgency of this question, and illuminates the strengths and shortcomings of different national responses to such pandemics. Contributors include: Erik Eckholm * Joan Kaufman * Arthur Kleinman * Dominic Lee * Sing Lee * Megan Murray * Thomas G. Rawski * Tony Saich * Alan Schnur * James L. Watson * Hong Zhang * Yun Kwok Wing

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.