Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
SarS could spread. on H5n1 avian influenza, Indonesia was slow even to admit
the outbreak of the disease. on HIv/aIDS in southern africa, there has been great
variation in the rapidity of the innovative response, with Zimbabwe moving early
and South africa very late. the new concept of health diplomacy has in principle
brought in simultaneity, by demanding that health, diplomatic, economic, and ethical
considerations all be assessed and integrated at the start. However, it has yet to be
decisively deployed to assess the health effects of trade liberalisation agreements in
advance, in a way that has become routine in the environmental field.
at times the innovations come long after the challenge, in the face of repeated
failures from the old routines. the instrument of oDa and the institution of the
G8 have been slow to adjust to the magnitude of the HIv/aIDS pandemic. the
campaign against polio seems never-ending. the legal right to place health over
economic values is still very slowly moving ahead. the global health initiatives
that were designed to speed up solutions have yet failed to deliver or come close
to any striking success. and in the complex, highly regulated world of health, it
takes considerable time before research, development, clinical attempts, regulatory
approvals, marketing, and field delivery of new medicines can come.
Sometimes adequate innovation is so slow that it never seems to arrive. creating
early warning systems, reliable statistics about population and their health, healthcare
systems in poor countries, a global regime for the migration of health professionals,
and sustained compliance with G8 health commitments and other international health
regimes seem far away. and the post-September 11 anthrax attacks in america,seems
to have gone away for the moment, but, without adequate innovation, may return at
any time to kill again—like the black Death in europe did in the 14th century.
Appropriateness
the appropriateness of these innovations similarly shows wide variation. this comes
in their diagnosis and analysis, agenda setting, resource mobilisation, targeting,
instrumentalities, and assignment and acceptance of responsibility. there have
been some notable successes, such as the wHo responding rapidly, forcefully, and
proportionally to SarS, as Kamrandt-Scott concludes. but the wto's response has
been inadequate to health needs in the case of HIv/aIDS. cohen-Kohler notes that
globalisation can impose inappropriate standards and designs and that more carve-
outs are needed as a result. Yet South africa's reliance on the traditional knowledge
and practice such as beetroots and garlic, rather than proven art, was massively
inadequate to control its HIv/aIDS pandemic.
Effectiveness
effectiveness is where the record of innovation has been least impressive. this is
true whether effectiveness is measured by the human lives saved, extended, and
improved or more broadly by the environmental, social-demographic, economic,
and political security values enhanced.
