Political, business and opinion leaders are meeting in Singapore Tuesday for a global debate to discuss international health issues in preparation for World Health Day 2007.
The debate, which is hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Singapore, “will launch the World Health Day 2007 theme of international health security and send a global message to ‘Invest in health, build a safer future,'” according to a news release.
“World Health Day on 7 April marks the founding of the World Health Organization,” according to the WHO’s Web site, www.who.int. “It is an occasion to raise awareness of key global health issues.”
“The uncertainty and destructive potential of disease outbreaks and acute public health emergencies gives them a high public and political profile,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General in a news release.
“When the world is collectively at risk, defense becomes a shared responsibility of all nations,” Chan said. “WHO continues to track evolving infectious disease situations and acute health threats, sound the alarm if necessary, share expertise with local and national health officials, and mount the kind of response needed to protect people from these dangers to health.”
Garrett Wilburn, a senior advertising major, said he doesn’t think international health presents as big an issue as it has in the past. “I think yeah, international health presents a challenge, but those challenges have been here for 300 years,” he said. “The diseases that are associated with global travel present a threat but it’s not as big a threat as it was 300 years ago, when more diseases affected people on an epidemic scale.”
Tuesday’s debate will focus on eight major health issues in regards to international health security. These include emerging diseases such as SARS and avian influence, economic stability, international crises and humanitarian emergencies, chemical, radioactive and biological terror threats, environmental change, HIV/AIDS, building health security and strengthening health systems, according to the news release.
Wilburn, however, remains hopeful in continuing advances made in medical technology. “Personally I think there is always going to be disease, but our means of treating diseases are far better than they were even 15 years ago.”
Chan agrees. “New outbreaks of avian influenza and the looming danger of an influenza pandemic, together with the severe health impacts of recent flooding in Indonesia and the Horn of Africa, underline the fact that now is the time to focus on international health security,” she said in the news release. “Even with serious challenges in today’s world, however, it is my view that these are optimistic times for health.

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