Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Governance may be firmly based on science, but the political thrust must not affect
the authority of international institutions.
another closely linked fundamental issue is the determination of the mandate of
organisations such as the wHo. Should they stick to reporting and standard setting
in global health governance or should they have a responsibility to be on the ground,
treating individuals and performing the tasks that might be done better by others?
How can fairness and transparency be guaranteed? How can the accountability of a
director general be assured, and how can nGos and donors be part of the selection
process of a director general? How can the funding for international organisations
be made adequately stable so that, after countries have paid their annual dues, their
workers do not have to spend so much of their time fundraising for the next important
initiative, such as pandemic preparedness?
over time, the extraordinary socioeconomic inequities that exist among countries
must become very much a part of the equation, if and when the world finally gets it
right. wealthy countries should not simply send aid cheques to poor ones, relying
on geographic distance to keep them safe from the problems relayed on the nightly
newscasts. In this respect, the reform of the G8 may be beneficial. The annual
meeting of the most powerful economies has a large impact on the structure of the
international system. within the G8 framework, there is a distinct possibility that
the agendas set will not appropriately reflect the needs of emerging economies. If
the G8 were expanded to include the five outreach countries of Brazil, china, India,
Mexico, and South africa, then international health solutions crafted at that level
would better reflect these needs. This type of expansion, however, demands much
further research, given the current set of critiques regarding the G8's efficiency and
legitimacy (see cooper 2007).
In essence, the world must do more to share best practices. Many countries are
doing extraordinarily interesting things, such as thailand. It is particularly important
to understand that everyone is in this together. It is essential to accept that we are one
people, or we will destroy ourselves. In other words, despite the evolving health goals
in today's drastically different international milieu from the one of Shi Huangdi and
Elizabeth Blackwell, their simple observations from centuries ago remain pertinent
today: we cannot reduce ourselves to the role of tinkers who merely patch and mend
what is broken. rather, we must take a collaborative role as the guardians of the life
and health of our generation, so that stronger and more able generations may come
after us
.
Note
1
prediction that it did not have the resources to resist HIv infection and would have
1.2 million cases of HIv/aIDS by 2000'.
