When a confirmed infectious disease pandemic breaks out, Seattle Pacific University’s emergency team swings into action, even if the outbreak is 7,000 miles away in Hong Kong. I participated in this type of campus plan when SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) began to move worldwide in 2003. Why was such a cautious response necessary?
The answer is that we know in today’s world, an infected person can travel around the globe in 36 hours. As real-time distance has diminished, global health has become … well, global. Even when someone is not directly impacted by an illness, the cost of poor health in lost labor productivity, social injustice, and political instability around the world affects all of us in this global economy.
Global Health is Our Health
http://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/new/ | By Kathleen Braden | Autumn 2013