| Globalization and integration of markets has increased the volume of international traffic of both goods and people at an accelerating pace. But the epidemiology of diseases has managed to keep pace with globalization. In particular, with their new light speed mutability, diseases such as the avian influenza (H5N1), have become a serious threat to humans. In response to the threat of an avian flu pandemic, the international community has formulated strategies to improve surveillance, detection, reporting and containment of the disease. But these strategies fail overlook two economic realities that can render them ineffective. The success of the current international strategies hinges entirely on the cooperation of poultry farmers. Yet, the strategies fail to create adequate incentives for poultry farmers to disclose infected livestock. For the individual poultry farmer in developing countries, the government's compensation for culled livestock is inadequate and does not inspire timely reporting. At the international level, countries that are honest enough to disclose infected livestock are not rewarded. Rather, they are punished for their candor. Importing countries use cases of infection to justify imposing blanket bans of the reporting nation's livestock. The economic havoc of such bans is even more acute for developing or transition economies. Furthermore, lengthy and inefficient dispute settlement by the World Trade Organization further discourages such countries from reporting cases of avian influenza. Creating a globally funded compensation scheme and streamlining the international trade dispute settlement process could help facilitate the success of avian influenza containment strategies. |
