Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
society organisations have historically undertaken both grassroots work and high-
level advocacy. this chapter aims to encourage civil society—and its partners—to
identify issues, challenges, and opportunities they would face in preparing, planning,
and engaging in such a crisis.
In 2005 when the canadian government and the Unac were working on the
issue of avian influenza, all signs were ominously suggesting that a pandemic of
proportions not witnessed since the Spanish influenza of 1918 was imminent (World
Health Organization [WHO] 2005; Osterholm 2005). But this time the world had an
gone off in the public health community, it was time for a more reflective analysis on
the part of civil society about its responsibilities and role in pandemic preparedness
planning. Civil society, as defined by the Panel of eminent Persons on United
Nations-Civil Society Relations (2004, 13), spans voluntary associations of citizens
(outside their families, friends, and businesses) formed to 'advance their interests,
ideas and ideologies'. It includes groups as diverse as mass organisations (for
example, farmers, women, seniors), trade unions, professional associations, social
movements, indigenous people's assemblies, faith-based organisations, academe,
and nongovernmental organisations (nGos) devoted to environment, development,
human rights, and peace.
It is easy to see the tremendous source of ingenuity, cooperation, and innovation
that could be tapped by activating and engaging such a transnational network. the Un
has recognised that the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and other global objectives will depend on a collaborative approach
made possible through civil society partnerships (Un Secretary General 2002).
before harnessing the global civic actor's latent power across the multitude of its
activities, a greater understanding of the social determinants and securitisation
of health is needed. Avian influenza presents interrelated economic, agricultural,
security, developmental, and ecological challenges; therefore, the approach to the
looming pandemic must take an equally integrated, cross-sectoral, cross-regional
perspective in order to develop a common platform of understanding among
stakeholders.
Although the threat of avian influenza in 2005 represents one specific crisis
scenario, it can be placed within a broader context of a global healthcare crisis,
poverty, insecurity, and environmental degradation. a survey of how all of these
issues feed into the pandemic potential clearly reveals the need for a comprehensive,
sustained, multidimensional—and multilateral—strategy. with common challenges
and shared responsibilities inherent in fighting an infectious disease in the age of
globalisation, it is necessary to catalyse complementary actions beyond the health
sector's existing services and programmes.
The first part of this chapter thus follows the virus on its whirlwind track since
1996 as it travelled across eurasia and made a brief foray into canada in the spring
of 2004. the second part discusses the global public health architecture and looks
in particular at the role of civil society in institution building. the third part shifts
the focus from the structures, participants, and processes of governance to its
