The Role of International Law in the Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Physicians, scientists, and public health officials the world over recognize the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases as one of the great public health challenges for humankind at the approach of the new millennium. Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose problems of enormous scale and complexity for those who practice the healing art. Those who have been leading the counterattack against EIDs also recognize that these diseases raise serious issues for those who practice the political and legal arts. To address EIDs effectively will require translating what is scientifically and medically necessary to combat pathogenic microbes into feasible political and legal action. This translation process will be particularly evident and difficult in connection with international law. Translating epidemiology into international law will require an active interdisciplinary discourse between infectious disease experts and international lawyers. Such a discourse is only now in its formative stages, and this chapter attempts to stimulate its development by providing an analysis of the role of international law in the control of EIDs.