By David Gallup
Disease knows no borders.
In an ungoverned world, Ebola and other viruses can
potentially wipe out a large part of the human species. National governments
cannot handle an epidemic, let alone a pandemic, because they take a parochial,
short-term view of events outside their claimed frontiers. Countries respond to
crises elsewhere in the world only when it is in their local interest, applying
a “national security” or “public order” approach rather than what is in the
best interest of humanity.
Many nation-states do not have the scientific or economic
capacity to control the spread of disease within their borders. They cannot
handle health crises on their own.
The World Health Organization has been successful in
controlling and eradicating some diseases such as polio. United Nations
member-states, however, consistently prevent this UN agency and other health
organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control, from intervening in the
affairs of each country through underfunding, understaffing, and domestic control
over health matters. A Washington Post front page article confirms that there
has been “no coordinated global response” to the Ebola crisis (Oct. 5, A9). A global government approach provides the
needed remedy to heal the divisions that prevent us from having an effective
global public health system.
The division and discrimination that national governments
perpetuate lead to violations of the right to adequate health care. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) affirms, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including,
food, clothing, housing and medical care…”
The ability to exercise the right
to health care, according to the UDHR, is dependent upon whether a society provides
sufficient economic conditions and social services to the population. People living in poverty with minimal
education and limited medical resources cannot exercise this right.
The nationalistic approach to health care also dramatically
impacts the right to travel (Article 13 of the UDHR). People living in countries where the disease
is out of control can be discriminated against and refused travel visas even if
they do not live near the outbreak and have had no contact with the infected.
Those who have the virus might need to leave their country to get proper
medical care, but other countries may refuse to let them in. Also, other countries often refuse to provide
technical and financial assistance to the disease-ravaged country – assistance that
could help those infected locally in the short term, and could safeguard
everyone globally in the long term.
People need to receive help no matter where they live. Helping all humans, regardless of their
nationality, is the only way to protect humanity as a whole and each of us
individually.
Nationalism is a disease run rampant. It prevents us from achieving
a sustainable, healthy and peaceful world. Albert Einstein said, “Nationalism
is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
If we humans cannot devise a system to govern our
interactions, whether in global health or politics, then we are doomed to
destroy each other and the earth. It is
a matter of priorities. When we fund the
next stealth bomber, arm insurgents, prepare for and wage wars, no funding remains
to build hospitals and to strengthen the economic, social and health
infrastructure.
Disease is universal.
Science is universal.
Rights are universal.
Helping our fellow humans throughout the world is not
universal – but it should be.
