Study On The Implementation Of Traveler’s Health Measures In The International Health Regulations

In 2005,the World Health Assembly adopted the latest edition of the international health regulations as the key international legal basis for the prevention and control of infectious diseases in the world.It aims to guide the State Party to take the minimum impact on international traffic and trade to prevent and control the spread of disease.According to its provisions,the provisions of health measures involving travelers can be divided into three categories: provisions of public health measures,provisions of recommended health measures and provisions of additional health measures.The corresponding three categories of health measures are related and different in terms of time,basis and specific content.In previous “public health emergencies of international concern”,WHO advised States parties not to implement travel restrictions,but most states parties were keen on it.They not only openly ignored WHO’s recommendations,but also violated the proportional principle,scientific principle and notification obligation that additional health measures should meet.At the same time,in most cases,they also violated the human rights principles of the implementation of the regulations.All these reflect that there are constraints in the implementation of the provisions of traveler’s health measures by the State Party.The governance mechanism focuses on the interests of developed countries.The compliance mechanism based on the “security” framework lacks attraction.The recommendations of WHO are non mandatory.And their professionalism is limited by scientific cognition.In addition,the degree of autonomy of additional health measures,such as the standard of the principle of proportionality and scientific evidence,is not clear.In order to strengthen the effectiveness of the implementation of relevant provisions,we can take the concept of “human health community” put forward by China as the guide,adopt the “risk” framework instead of the“safety” framework,strengthen the compliance attraction of States parties,strengthen cooperation with other international organizations,improve the binding force of recommendations,refine the classification of public health events,clarify the scientific limit of the autonomy of additional health measures,and strengthen the guidance of scientific evidence.