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The International Health Regulations: The Governing Framework For Global Health Security, Lawrence O. Gostin, Rebecca Katz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

• The International Health Regulations (IHR) are the governing framework for global health security yet require textual and operational reforms to remain effective, particularly as parallel initiatives are developed.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is the agency charged with oversight of the IHR, and its leadership and efficient functioning are prerequisites for the effective implementation of the IHR.
• We reviewed the historical origins of the IHR and their performance over the past 10 years and analyzed all of the ongoing reform panel efforts to provide a series of politically feasible recommendations for fundamental reform.
• This article offers proposals for fundamental reform—with …

Virus Sharing, Genetic Sequencing, And Global Health Security, Lawrence O. Gostin, Alexandra Phelan, Michael A. Stoto, John D. Kraemer, K. Srinath Reddy

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework was a milestone global agreement designed to promote the international sharing of biological samples to develop vaccines, while that ensuring poorer countries would have access to those vaccines. Since the PIP Framework was negotiated, scientists have developed the capacity to use genetic sequencing data (GSD) to develop synthetic viruses rapidly for product development of life-saving technologies in a time-sensitive global emergency—threatening to unravel the Framework. Access to GSD may also have major implications for biosecurity, biosafety, and intellectual property (IP).

By rendering the physical transfer of viruses antiquated, GSD may also undermine the …

The Global Health Security Agenda In An Age Of Biosecurity, Lawrence O. Gostin, Alexandra Phelan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Historically, the Oval Office has been a leader in global health assistance. From the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) under the Bush Administration, to the Global Health Initiative launched by President Obama in 2009. However, unlike PEPFAR and PMI, the Global Health Initiative met an untimely end with the launch of a bold new global health measure by the Obama Administration: the Global Health Security Agenda (GHS Agenda). The GHS Agenda aims to “accelerate progress toward a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats” through a US-led diplomatic collaboration with 30 …