G7_JAPAN

Health governance
The West African Ebola outbreak caused
more than 11,000 deaths, and was the
most deadly since the disease was
discovered 40 years ago
ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: UNMEER/MARTINE PERRET
→ such a plan, the world remains at risk
of another Ebola outbreak – or worse.
However, efficiencies may come from better
integration of programmes focused on
single diseases (such as polio eradication),
and any strategic plan and funding needs to
be integrated with Sustainable Development
Goal 3. Financing IHR implementation is
in the interest of the G7 and, indeed, will
only be possible with G7 assistance with
finance and other resources.
Greater efforts required
Some countries may perceive independent
external inspection as an unwarranted
undermining of sovereignty. However,
within health, external independent
inspection is increasingly seen as a tool
to help the inspected. During the Ebola
outbreak, most Eastern Mediterranean
countries tested their compliance using
independent inspection. Although several
were identified as non-compliant, they
accepted the exercise constructively and
recognised external inspection as a defence
against the spread of Ebola. However,
such external inspections must apply
to all countries and not just some. They
must be implemented in a way that is
least burdensome, and the process must
be financed. G7 members must lead, both
by example (which several have already
done by submitting themselves to external
$4.5bn
The estimated annual cost
of implementing the IHR's
10-year strategic plan
inspection) and by publicly highlighting
the benefit to those inspected.
The IHR assume a functioning state,
but the situation in conflict-affected areas,
‘ungoverned spaces’, and among some
mobile and refugee populations must also
be considered. This consideration includes
the increasing propensity for healthcare
facilities and personnel in those areas to be
the subject of attack, whether deliberately,
by accident or through negligence. Much
more effort is also required in research,
development and manufacturing, not just
to prevent diseases (for example through
vaccine development and production) from
emerging or amplifying into outbreaks, but
also to ensure a system for equitable access
to products and other benefits derived from
research conducted in or using materials or
data from resource-poor countries.
In terms of global health governance,
the UN High-Level Panel recommended
that WHO remains the leader of the global
response to infectious disease, while also
recommending the formation of a global
council of 50 states to address the ‘nonhealth’
aspects of global health emergencies.
However, it is difficult to separate the health
from the non-health aspects of health crisis
management, and the formation of such a
council needs careful consideration if it is
not to weaken WHO’s ability to effectively
lead future global responses. G7
52 G7 Japan: The Ise-Shima Summit • May 2016 g7g20.com