Transcript ZOMBIE PANDEMIC

ZOMBIE PANDEMIC!
Zombies have seized the popular imagination of
the international community. The zombie menace is
100% contagious and 100% fatal, making it a public
health threat potentially more vexing than any the
world has ever seen. If a zombie pandemic were to
take place, would the world be ready to competently
deal with it? Will warning systems, information
dissemination, and containment procedures be
enough to prevent catastrophe?
Should the United Nations:
A)
Require member nations to build quarantine facilities in all major population
centers and develop communications plans?
B)
Create a binding agreement that all regional and national health institution must
report signs of a zombie plague to WHO or face a monetary penalty?
C) Create a worldwide zombie menace training corps to prepare health care
workers and citizens around the globe to be leaders in the event of a zombie
invasion?
D)
Create an international zombie menace fund (IZMF) so that poor nations will
have the resources to cope with an outbreak?
 Prompt for user: Introduce topic to students by reading off of a brief script
 WHO’s constitution came into force in 1948. WHO is a member of the United
Nations Development Group and is the directing and coordinating authority for
health within the United Nations.
 It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the
health research agenda, setting norms and standards, disseminating valuable
health knowledge, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical
support to countries, and monitoring and assessing health trends.
 WHO has 194 member states.
 Zombies desire human flesh; they will not eat other zombies.
 Zombies cannot be killed unless their brain is destroyed. There is no cure for
zombies. The zombie virus causes 100% infection and 100% death.
 Any human being bitten by a zombie will inevitably become a zombie. The zombie
menace is transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids (it is not
air- or waterborne).
 Zombies do not retain human emotions or memories. They cannot be trained.
 Allow each country (small student group) to state its position on the issue for 30
seconds—a total of five minutes for a 10 country simulation, or 1 minute—a total of
ten minutes for a 10 country simulation.
 Tell students to use the next 10 minutes to form agreements with other countries
based on their mutual interests and goals.
Examples to help guide the discussion:
- Did you know that the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the
foremost authority in the research of infectious diseases and the spread of
outbreaks?
- Did you know that China and India are the most populous countries in the world?
 Students spend five minutes (with 30 second or one minute speaking times) in a
moderated discussion on trends, regional issues, and potential solutions.
Examples to help guide the discussion:
- What institution is in charge of public health in your country?
- How is information spread through your country (news media, social media, word
of mouth, etc.)?
- How many people live in your country? Where do the majority of people live?
- How has your country handled previous pandemics?
 The user should instruct students to work together to write three sentence
resolutions (solutions) to the problem at hand.
Examples of resolutions include:
- All regional and national health institutions must report signs of a zombie plague to
WHO or face a monetary penalty.
- Governments must build quarantine facilities in all major populated areas as a
preventive measure.
- WHO is responsible for building quarantine facilities.
 Students should introduce three-sentence resolutions as coalitions, spending
several minutes on question/answer and debating the merits of each resolution
 Students vote yes/no on the passage of one or more resolutions. After the vote,
congratulate the students for their findings.
 Brazil has been successful in curbing the spread of communicable diseases like
HIV and caring for those living with it. Brazil partnered with many local
organizations to aggressively attack the spread of this virus. The country saved $2
billion in medical costs between 1996-2004 by giving citizens access to effective
treatment and saving on hospitalization costs. The Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), an American national health institution, established an office in
Brazil in 2003 to help monitor disease outbreaks. "As a member of the Global
Health and Foreign Policy initiative, Brazil has been actively engages in the debates
on health issues that require international cooperation and political attention, such
as the control of infectious disease, the management of human resources for health,
response to natural disasters and crises, and provision of affordable medicines,
among other challenges." - Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, former Permanent
Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, July 8, 2009
 China has made great progress in the control of communicable diseases at the
national level. However, major outbreaks of communicable diseases and the
importation of serious non-endemic diseases are always a risk for China due to its
population of more than 1.3 billion people. More than half of the population of
China lives in densely populated urban areas. The 12th Five-Year Plan for National
Economic and Social Development (2011–2015) urges further strengthening
health-care system reform to meet people's basic health care demands. "Health
outcomes for poor people across the world are under pressure from the dual
burden of communicable and non-communicable disease, demographic change,
urbanisation and new infectious diseases. China is already an important
contributor to global health efforts, and as a board member of the WHO and the
Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. The launch of the Global Health
Support Programme demonstrates China and the UK’s shared commitment to
strengthen further global health through innovation and collaboration." - UK-China
Press Release, January 16, 2013
 India accounts for 21% of the world’s global burden of disease. India has made
significant progress towards polio eradication in recent decades. Although life
expectancy continues to increase, communicable diseases are still widespread and
constitute major public health issues. India faces many challenges with its
healthcare system including high out-of-pocket costs, insufficiency and uneven
distribution of staff, service provision (overwhelmingly in private hands) and
quality. "As far as India is concerned, we are faced with the triple burden of
communicable diseases, new and re-emerging infections and the increasing
incidence of non-communicable diseases. More than half of all deaths are now
attributed to Non-Communicable Diseases." - Ghulam Nabi Azad, India Minister of
Health and Family Welfare, September 19, 2011
 Communicable diseases are a major cause of death in Indonesia. As such,
Indonesia would by highly susceptible to an outbreak of the zombie virus.
Responding effectively to complex disease patterns and potential threats to health
is likely to remain a major set of challenges for the country during the coming
years. Improvement of surveillance, monitoring and health information system
through active community participation in reporting health problems will increase
the effectiveness of Indonesia’s response to an outbreak of the zombie virus. "The
availability and affordability of medical supplies remain one of the major
challenges faced by developing countries in promoting health services. The
provision of quality health care depends on the availability and affordability of
quality instruments, diagnostic and curative machines and tools." - Ambassador
Yusra Khan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Indonesia, June 3, 2013
 North Korea (DPRK) had achieved an efficient and effective free universal health-
care system by the 1990s. However, the system suffered a severe blow as the entire
national economy fell into recession in the 1990s. One of the areas in which the
health care system is suboptimal is inadequate sterilization of equipment. This
would be of particular concern during an outbreak of the zombie virus as the virus
is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids of the infected. The World Health
Organization’s Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) established a country
office in the DPRK in 2001. The first Country Cooperation Strategy for the DPRK was
developed in 2004. "Non-security issues such as climate change, global warming
and communicable disease have become preoccupying issues for the future of
humanity. The implications are so enormous that they have actually become major
security issues." - Choi Young-jin, Former Permanent Representative of the
Republic of Korea, April 14, 2007
 Russia has faced a difficult period of economic and social transition. Severe
recessions in the 1990s were accompanied by reduced financing of the health
system and consequent reductions in the availability of health care services. The
lack of quality healthcare options in Russia has resulted in a high rate of
communicable disease infection (nearly 1 million Russians suffer from HIV). Russia
would likely be underequipped to handle a mass outbreak of the zombie virus.
One of the key areas where Russia can improve its disease prevention strategy is
by educating citizens on how infectious diseases are spread. The national
legislation of the Russian Federation guarantees access for all the citizens to free
large-scale prevention programs and HIV-testing, and for HIV-infected people –
access to free high-quality medical care and protection of their rights." - Professor
Veronika Skvortsova, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the
Russian Federation, June 9, 2011
 Switzerland is a developed country with low rates of communicable diseases. Swiss
citizens enjoy access to quality healthcare. Switzerland is involved in bilateral
cooperation with developing and developed/emerging countries contributing to
improved global health and, in the event of a global outbreak of the zombie virus,
would likely provide finances and services to those countries hit hardest by the
disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters is located in Geneva,
Switzerland. “A number of health-related international organisations have their
headquarters in Switzerland, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.” – Switzerland Mission to the United Nations
 In order to minimize the risk for communicable disease outbreaks, the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) offers support to member
states, such as the UK, to strengthen their defenses against infectious diseases.
ECDC helps to quickly mobilize outbreak assistance teams, whose expertise may
include epidemiology, clinical medicine, public health, infection control, etc. The
UK has spent over $1 billion over the past 10 years to help combat the spread of
communicable diseases like HIV in developing countries. These funds have helped
coordinate and strengthen international responses to disease outbreaks. "Health
outcomes for poor people across the world are under pressure from the dual
burden of communicable and non-communicable disease, demographic change,
urbanisation and new infectious diseases. China is already an important
contributor to global health efforts, and as a board member of the WHO and the
Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. The launch of the Global Health
Support Programme demonstrates China and the UK’s shared commitment to
strengthen further global health through innovation and collaboration." - UK-China
Press Release, January 16, 2013
 In the US, rate of communicable disease infection, as well as education and
understanding, varies by state. This is dangerous because many people infected
with diseases like HIV are unaware that they have it. Young adults are the most atrisk for communicable diseases, with African Americans representing 70% and
Latinos representing 17% of the HIV diagnoses among teenagers. Should a
communicable virus be detected, a network of communication must be activated to
involve intelligence personnel, healthcare administration, local and state health
departments, FBI field offices, and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Regulations provide for the apprehension and examination of any individual
believed to be infected and who is moving or about to move from one state to
another state. "Beyond the Global Health Initiative, U.S. health diplomacy focuses
on promoting pandemic preparedness, implementing the International Health
Regulations, addressing environmental health issues and emerging infectious
diseases, eradicating polio, and responding to biosecurity threats." - Ambassador
Rick Barton, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations, December 9, 2010
 Zambia is one of the African countries most highly affected by communicable
diseases, particularly for young people. The high infection rate in Zambia has
made it difficult for young people to get jobs, which contributes to the high poverty
rate. The main reason for the high rate of disease contraction is lack of access to
knowledge (how diseases are spread and how to prevent them). Zambia’s
government has been working with the UN on strategies for disease prevention.
"My government continues to re-organize and manage the health sector to ensure
significant improvement in health service delivery. On 27th January 2012,
government launched the national health strategic plan for the period 2011 to 2015.
This strategy is aimed at addressing both non-communicable and communicable
diseases." - Michael Chilufya Sata, President of the Republic of Zambia, September
2012