World Needs Coherent Approach To Recognizing, Responding To Disease Epidemics

Foreign Policy: Can the Global Public Health System Learn From Its Ebola Mistakes?
Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations

“…A summit should be convened, ideally by a respected third party outside of the U.N., allowing all of the panels and commissions to compare their diagnoses of global health governance problems and suggested solutions [in light of the Ebola epidemic]. … Without the sort of leverage a full summit can provide, it is unlikely that the range of parties pivotal to epidemic preparedness and response will absorb and respond to the panels’ critiques and recommendations. And in the absence of a summit, differences in the recommendations among the plethora of reports cannot be thrashed out. … [T]he whole world needs coherent, rational changes in the landscape of epidemic recognition and mobilized global responses. We must learn from the Ebola mistakes. And that means putting wise heads together to agree on courses of action, governance, and funding support” (10/8).

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