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Global Health Security Initiative
The Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) is an informal international partnership among countries in order to exchange information and coordinate practices for confronting new threats and risks to global health. It was formed to respond to threats of Bioterrorism, biological, Chemical warfare, chemical, or Nuclear terrorism, radio-nuclear terrorism (CBRN), with pandemic influenza added to the scope a year later. History The idea on which the Global Health Security Initiative is based was suggested by then US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, after the September 11 attacks, World Trade Center attacks on 9 September 2001. He proposed that countries fighting bioterrorism should collaborate, share information and coordinate their efforts in order to best protect global health. GHSI was launched in November 2001 by Canada (who hosted the first meeting in Ottawa), the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western border with the United States, stretching , is the world's longest binational land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same way as in biological warfare. Further, modern agribusiness is vulnerable to anti-agricultural attacks by terrorists, and such attacks can seriously damage economy as well as consumer confidence. The latter destructive activity is called agrobioterrorism and is a subtype of agro-terrorism. Definition Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants. These agents are typically found in nature, but could be mutated or altered to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment. Biological agents can be spread through the air, water, or in food. Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Health Organizations
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkeit'' or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science, psychology, marketing, and advertising. In public relations and communication science, it is one of the more ambiguous concepts in the field. Although it has definitions in the theory of the field that have been formulated from the early 20th century onwards, and suffered more recent years from being blurred, as a result of conflation of the idea of a public with the notions of audience, market segment, community, constituency, and stakeholder. Etymology and definitions The name "public" originates with the Latin '' publicus'' (also '' poplicus''), from ''populus'', to the English word 'populace', and in general denotes some mass population ("the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease with a stable number of infected individuals is not a pandemic. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected individuals such as recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide. Throughout human history, there have been a number of pandemics of diseases such as smallpox. The most fatal pandemic in recorded history was the Black Death—also known as Plague (disease), The Plague—which killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century. The term had not been used then but was used for later epidemics, including the 1918 influenza pandemic—more commonly known as the Spanish flu. Current pandemics include Epide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Health Threat Unit (European Commission)
The Health Threat Unit of the Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection (European Commission), is responsible for terrorism surveillance and early warning of biological, chemical, and radiological threats within the European Union. The Health Threat Unit runs the ''Rapid Alert System'', which conducts surveillance on communicable diseases and diseases caused by acts of bioterrorism. The surveillance data are coordinated and evaluated by the ''Health Emergency Operations Facility''. Health threat information and warnings are sent to the member states by the Communication and Crisis Center (''BICHAT'') and the Security Office in Brussels, Belgium. Criteria for notification The BICHAT sends a warning to the EU member states, within one hour of receiving a warning, when there is: * Suspicion of danger * Internationally relevant events; need for a complex response * Need for coordination (investigative and control actions) * Suspicion of deliberate action of a terrorist o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been described as a '' sui generis'' political entity (without precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.8per cent of the world population in 2020, the EU generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around trillion in 2021, constituting approximately 18per cent of global nominal GDP. Additionally, all EU states but Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according to the United Nations Development Programme. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Centre For Disease Prevention And Control
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union (EU) whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. It covers a wide spectrum of activities, such as: surveillance, epidemic intelligence, response, scientific advice, microbiology, preparedness, public health training, international relations, health communication, and the scientific journal ''Eurosurveillance''. The centre was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. History As EU economic integration and open frontiers increased, cooperation on public health issues became more important. While the idea of creating a European centre for disease control had been discussed previously by public health experts, the 2003 SARS outbreak and the rapid spread of SARS across country borders confirmed the urgency of the creation of an EU-wide institution for public health. ECDC was set up in record time for an EU agency: the European Commission ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emergent Virus
An emergent virus (or emerging virus) is a virus that is either newly Viral evolution, appeared, notably increasing in incidence (epidemiology), incidence/geographic range limit, geographic range or has the potential to increase in the near future. Emergent viruses are a leading cause of emerging infectious diseases and raise public health challenges globally, given their potential to cause disease outbreak, outbreaks of disease which can lead to epidemics and pandemics. As well as causing disease, emergent viruses can also have severe economy, economic implications. Recent examples include the SARS-related coronaviruses, which have caused the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, 2002-2004 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1) and the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019–21 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2). Other examples include the human immunodeficiency vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Council Of Europe Convention On The Prevention Of Terrorism
The Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism 2005 (CECPT) is a regional multilateral treaty negotiated under the auspices of the Council of Europe. It was concluded in Warsaw on 16 May 2005. Most notable amongst its provisions are the three new offences which it defines: Public Provocation to Commit a "Terrorist Offence"; Solicitation of Persons to Commit "Terrorist Offences"; and Provision of Training For "Terrorist Offences". Parties are required to establish these offences in their national legal systems. However the obligation only applies in respect of behaviour where there is an international nexus of some sort. A "terrorist offence" is defined as any of the offences defined under the 12 existing international conventions on terrorism presently in force.Adrian Hunt, "The Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism" (2006) ''European Public Law'' 603. __TOC__ The Incitement Offence The most controversial part of the CECPT is its definition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centers For Disease Control And Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The agency's main goal is the protection of public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability in the US and worldwide. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease control and prevention. It especially focuses its attention on infectious disease, food borne pathogens, environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, injury prevention and educational activities designed to improve the health of United States citizens. The CDC also conducts research and provides information on non-infectious diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, and is a founding member of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CBRN Defense
Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical warfare, chemical, biological warfare, biological, radiological warfare, radiological or nuclear warfare, nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present. CBRN defence consists of CBRN passive protection, contamination avoidance, and Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction mitigation. A CBRN incident differs from a hazardous material incident in both scope (i.e., CBRN can be a mass casualty situation) and intent. CBRN incidents are responded to under the assumption that they are intentional and malicious; evidence preservation and perpetrator apprehension are of greater concern than with HAZMAT incidents. A 2011 forecast concluded that worldwide government spending on CBRN defence products and services would reach US$8.38bn that year. Etymology In English language, English the term ''CBRN'' is a replacement for the 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biosecurity
Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, these measures are aimed at protecting food crops and livestock from pests, invasive species, and other organisms not conducive to the welfare of the human population. The term includes biological threats to people, including those from pandemic diseases and bioterrorism. The definition has sometimes been broadened to embrace other concepts, and it is used for different purposes in different contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example of a threat for which biosecurity measures have been needed in all countries of the world. Background and terminology The term "biosecurity" has been defined differently by various disciplines. The term was first used by the agricultural and environmental communities to describe preventative measur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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