Open AccessGlobal health and global bioethics
Author(s) -
Henk ten Have
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cadernos ibero-americanos de direito sanitário
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2358-1824
pISSN - 2317-8396
DOI - 10.17566/ciads.v10i3.777
Subject(s) - bioethics , pandemic , vulnerability (computing) , action (physics) , psychological intervention , global health , political science , environmental ethics , public relations , covid-19 , engineering ethics , medicine , law , health care , infectious disease (medical specialty) , computer security , computer science , disease , engineering , philosophy , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , psychiatry
Covid-19 is not merely a national or regional threat but a global one. It requires coordinated action of the global community. Such action, as argued in this paper, should primarily focus on the question how to prevent the next pandemic. Humankind has been warned multiple time for emerging diseases and the risks of pandemics, although no preparatory responses have been undertaken. Preventive interventions are possible since it is known how and where infectious diseases emerge. Such interventions proceed on the basis of shared vulnerability and responsibility for global health. The fact that they have been inadequate thus far, can be considered as a serious moral failure.