1) In “The Human-Animal Link” William Karesh and Robert Cook discuss the increasing problem of cross-species diseases and their spread throughout the world, citing a breach in the “Darwinian divide” that has kept epidemics at bay (1). While previously, only a few diseases could affect both humans and animals, in recent years the increase of globalism and introduction of species into new environments have contributed to this global problem. Over half of the 1,415 categorized infectious diseases are known to infect both animals and humans, which presents a problem in eventual eradication (2). If Smallpox, the world’s first disease eradicated through human effort, had been able to infect animals as well, then it could have simply retreated into …show more content…
Certain NGOs, like the World Health Organization, International Food Policy Institute, and World Animal Health Organization have been created specifically to ensure safety and health throughout the world. They have been called in countless times for epidemics ranging from SARS to Monkeypox to H5N1 flu to recently, the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. Currently, Doctors without Borders, Catholic Relief Services, Africare, and other non-governmental organizations are aiding relief workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. With infectious diseases becoming ever more prominent in an increasingly populated world, these NGOs will need to cooperate with states in implementing safety protocol. Currently, states’ rules on NGOs limit their power to purely reactionary, rather than precautionary, procedures. According to Karesh and Cook, currently most NGOs like the WHO or the US-run CDC require some sort of invitation from a country where the epidemic currently is. However, for some reason or another, countries may refuse to allow these humanitarian services; perhaps they are unaware of a hazard within their borders, or they wish to hide an outbreak, or they do not want outside institutions meddling in their affairs. The IGO of the United Nations is in charge of trying to organize humanitarian aid, but there is no obligation for countries to follow their directives. Countries …show more content…
There are no organizations dedicated to studying this link, no NGOs dedicated to potentially controlling cross-species epidemics before they happen. While the CDC and WHO may be able to prevent outbreaks from spreading, proactive prevention is necessary to ensure minimal loss of life. At the moment, the CDC, Doctors without Borders, and other international aid organizations need a specific invitation from a country to be able to begin relief services. However, in many cases, countries want to hide conditions within their borders to avoid international outrage. For example, the Soviet Union under Stalin hid the deplorable famine conditions of their country in order to promote communism as a viable economic system. Thus, states would have to be more accountable for crises within their borders. While their autonomy may be infringed on slightly, the potential humanitarian benefit is well worth the sacrifice. Some international agency should be allowed to independently investigate potential health hazards without requiring permission of the country they are investigating, but it should have to provide a justification for its actions to the United Nations or any inquiring country. As well as states hiding their actions, unsafe animal traders would also rather break rules and not report illegal acquirements that might