H1N1: it really is a small world (after all)

H1N1 is still around and is probably going to hit big in the Fall.    As it happens it is only the latest in a serious of scares about “global pandemics” etc…; and this, along with the transnational spread of global crime, seems to be one of the scarier aspects of globalization.  You can learn more than you probably every wanted to about “globalization and disease” here.

As this article explains:

“In the current era of globalization the world is more interdependent than at any other time. Efficient and inexpensive transportation has left few places inaccessible, and increased global trade in agricultural products has brought more and more people into contact with animal diseases that have subsequently jumped species barriers.”

I should think it is obvious that if viruses and microbes don’t respect national borders, one has to think of the whole world as one system to find effective public health measures to control such outbreaks.   This article makes the point neatly:

“Experts grappling with these diseases no longer consider that the pursuit of a strictly national public health policy is adequate. The need for global cooperation increases the importance of international law in the public health arena.”

So, briefly put, the globalization of infectious disease is a Global Governance issue; and as we have discussed previously, effective global governance implies peace, since countries at war are not likely to cooperate effectively or at all to find solutions to even urgent transnational issues affecting them.

Once again, we see that “war is death” and “peace is life”.