Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:35:35.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preparedness is Nine-Tenths of Prevention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Jack Woodall*
Affiliation:
World Health Organization, Switzerland
Get access

Abstract

Wheelis's idea of a global network of “epidemiological watch towers” is a great one, but I do not see any realistic prospect of getting adequate multilateral funding for such a network if its avowed main aim is to deter biological warfare (BW). To accelerate our understanding of disease processes—yes; to enhance microbiological technology transfer—yes. The BW watchtower function would be an incidental but very desirable side effect.

Type
Roundtable Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

WHO (1990) draft documents. Emergency Preparedness and Response. Rapid Health Assessment in Epidemics: First Steps ERO/EPR/90.1.2; Rapid Health Assessment in Meningitis Outbreaks ERO/EPR/90.1.3; … in Outbreaks of Viral Haemorrhagic Fever, Including Yellow Fever ERO/EPR/90.1.4; … in Outbreaks of Acute Diarrhoeal Disease ERO/EPR/90.1.5.Google Scholar