Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and procedures in the process of revising the IHr—a process that was incomplete at
the time of SarS. Given that, compared to past pandemics, the 2003 SarS pandemic
was an exceptional epidemiological event, the wHo was required to respond in an
exceptional, innovative way.
Furthermore, while the wHo did act unilaterally it did so with an awareness
of the potential impacts of its actions on its members, and it followed a clearly
defined, constitutionally valid course of action that was based on sound public health
principles. a number of the bureaucracy's actions, such as sending an uninvited
team of experts to china without the government's explicit request, were based
on customary practice, having been previously endorsed by the wHa with the
creation of the Goarn in 2000. Furthermore, at least at the time of the 2003 crisis,
the wHo's actions were entirely consistent with the preferences of its collective
membership, given that when the wHo did take these unconventional measures, the
majority of member states failed to denounce them.
It is always valuable in the wake of tragic international events to reflect on the
roles of actors and whether things could, or should, have been done differently. the
questions that Fidler, cortell, and Peterson raise about the wHo's behaviour are
therefore important if for no other reason than they make one pause to consider
how much authority and autonomy the international community is willing to cede to
Ios. when the wHo was created in 1946 its founders anticipated the organisation
would evolve, developing new and innovative means to fulfil its mandate. In the
context of SarS the wHo exceeded expectations, demonstrating that many of the
former restrictions on the notification of disease outbreaks and how the organisation
responded to these events more generally required a substantial re-think. of course,
one should not assume that the wHo is merely a benevolent public servant. the
actions and behaviour of Ios require constant monitoring to avoid unwanted mission
creep. at the same time, they are required to walk a very delicate line where, on one
side, they must fulfil their mandates in a constantly changing world while, on the
other, they must meet the (at times very diverse) expectations of member states. It
is an unenviable, and quite often tenuous, position—one that the world continues to
place them in. Perhaps analysts should be a little more lenient, therefore, and embrace
the innovative attempts of Ios to respond to new global challenges, particularly
when most individual states would concede that these challenges are well and truly
beyond them to manage.
Notes
original pandemic but occurred afterward.
example, U.S. General Accounting Office (2004, 4, 32), Asian Development Bank (2003,
75-77), and brower (2003, 651), as well as page 30.
3
