Davies Sara E
Centre for Governance and Public Policy, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
Med Law Rev. 2017 May 1;25(2):270-292. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwx011.
The international organization responsible for international coordinated response to disease outbreaks-the World Health Organization (WHO)-was given permission to receive reports from sources other than the state in revisions to the International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005. However, the organization struggles to protect its corresponding right to receive reports from non-state actors on outbreak events. This article examines the consequences of this implementation gap between what is stated in the IHR-the right of WHO to receive reports from non-state actors on outbreak events-and the reality that states remain able and willing to act to ensure that this right is not exercised. The article examines two recent cases: the first detection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in Saudi Arabia, and the first months of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea. Both cases demonstrate how the WHO has struggled to balance states' concern with managing risk communication against WHO's right to receive reports from non-state actors. The article argues that to realize the full potential of a transparent disease outbreak reporting process, there is a need for a human rights framework that expressly articulates its right to receive reports and outlines appropriate behaviour for the WHO, states, and non-state actors.
负责对疾病爆发做出国际协调应对的国际组织——世界卫生组织（WHO）——在2005年对《国际卫生条例》（IHR）的修订中被允许接收来自国家以外来源的报告。然而，该组织在保护其接收非国家行为体关于疫情事件报告的相应权利方面面临困难。本文探讨了《国际卫生条例》中规定的内容（即世卫组织有权接收非国家行为体关于疫情事件的报告）与各国仍然有能力且愿意采取行动确保该权利不被行使这一现实之间的实施差距所带来的后果。本文研究了两个近期案例：沙特阿拉伯首次发现中东呼吸综合征（MERS）疫情，以及几内亚埃博拉疫情爆发的头几个月。这两个案例都表明了世卫组织在平衡各国对管理风险沟通的关切与自身接收非国家行为体报告的权利方面所面临的困难。本文认为，为了充分发挥透明的疾病爆发报告程序的潜力，需要一个人权框架，明确阐明其接收报告的权利，并为世卫组织、各国和非国家行为体勾勒出适当的行为规范。
