09 June 2009
Pandemics and Globalization
The recent concern about the H1N1 (Swine Flu) pandemic confuses the novelty of the responsible virus with the inexorableness of globalization. Ease of travel between distant continents give epidemics a more rapid impact on the world’s general health than in the past. Instant dissemination of the news about the spread of a previously unknown disease raises the public’s consciousness of the scourge more quickly than before.
A pandemic, therefore, is a technological phenomenon as much as a medical one. The important consequence of the issue raised by Dr. Altman in his article, “Is this a Pandemic?” in the June 9, 2009, New York Times is the selection of tools to use to combat this and similar contagions. While waiting for the development of immunological medicines to defeat the cause of the disease, a globally coordinated strategy must instill wise control of interaction between individuals and groups of individuals. Just as critical are measures to dampen sensationalist media coverage of an increasingly frequent feature of our globalized environment.
The recent concern about the H1N1 (Swine Flu) pandemic confuses the novelty of the responsible virus with the inexorableness of globalization. Ease of travel between distant continents give epidemics a more rapid impact on the world’s general health than in the past. Instant dissemination of the news about the spread of a previously unknown disease raises the public’s consciousness of the scourge more quickly than before.
A pandemic, therefore, is a technological phenomenon as much as a medical one. The important consequence of the issue raised by Dr. Altman in his article, “Is this a Pandemic?” in the June 9, 2009, New York Times is the selection of tools to use to combat this and similar contagions. While waiting for the development of immunological medicines to defeat the cause of the disease, a globally coordinated strategy must instill wise control of interaction between individuals and groups of individuals. Just as critical are measures to dampen sensationalist media coverage of an increasingly frequent feature of our globalized environment.
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