Public Policy

Public Policy
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Institution
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Transnational Public Goods for Health
Many health issues affect people internationally but do not become global public goods. HIV/AIDS affects all people in developing and developed world qualifying as a public health concern. The availability of antiretroviral to infected persons is a global concern because it is only available to the rich developing countries that afford to budget for the drugs to HIV-positive people. In the case, humanitarian assistance and international security related to the disease are transnational public goods. Offering humanitarian assistance is a public good that offers knowledge and assistance to the sick and affected persons such as family members. Offering human assistance aids international security through avoiding failure of the state in the future.
However, at times it is difficult to offer the public goods because of the high cost of affording antiretroviral therapy in poor countries (Barrett, 2006).There is an inefficient one-price policy for patented drugs. The antiretroviral drugs cost high prices to recoup the research and development expenses. The manufacturing companies charge high to cover capital and efforts used to avail the drugs. Alternatively, the poor countries should enjoy the benefit of affording the drugs at lower prices because the rich countries have enough money to recoup the costs through efficient systems. It is beneficial to offer international health assistance to avoid overcharging drugs.

Benefits of offering transnational public goods in health
Supplying public goods internationally benefits developing and industrialized countries. It is possible for industrial countries to offer financial assistance after gaining enough of public goods in health. Offering transnational goods in health helps to eradicate diseases through the disease-specific program the program invests in public health infrastructure to aid recipients. Improved surveillance and controlling emerging diseases are key public goods because they have to invest in basic infrastructure.
The approach of controlling infectious and emerging diseases in one country is a public good because it reduces the risk of spreading to other countries and causing an epidemic.
Swine flu in relation to global cooperation
Swine influenza virus spread in Mexico and other countries causing an epidemic. The contagious and acute respiratory disease comes from pigs. The disease had spread to Hong Kong, New Zealand, Spain and other countries by 2009. Swine Flu killed many young and healthy adults around the world. The World Health Organizations revised international rules regarding infectious diseases and aims to transform the rules. The changed rules would enable stronger cooperation against threats to diseases. Swine flu is a pandemic problem that demands international cooperation (Walt, 2009). Initially, it has immediate dangers that are indiscriminate. Swine flu spreads into many countries within a short time. Without global cooperation, there are short-term costs. Incumbent international Politicians end up to misfortunes as they push the problem to the future generations. Second, there are no relative gains to the issue because the state would have their citizens bear the cost of managing the disease.
Global cooperation is important because each state will take part in controlling dangers and mitigating the upcoming effects. Third, many states have great experience of managing pandemics such as swine flu. Thus, global cooperation becomes effective through their straightforward practices. The states know measures to take and solutions to the problem. Under IHR 2005, the WHO director declared Swine flu an international concern and issued temporary recommendations depending on the threat it causes (Walt, 2009). The recommendations emphasized the importance of global cooperation such as intensifying surveillance during unusual outbreaks involving influenza and other illnesses. According to the Director, it was wrong to conduct trade and travel to countries affected by Swine Flu.
Other countries such as Hong Kong issued warnings to those traveling to Mexico and screened passengers arriving through planes from affected countries. Others banned the export of pork from Mexico and the United States. Moreover, IHR 2005 mandate demands that cases related to influenza should be reported to WHO. WHO will analyze threats involved and report the results. The cooperation between Mexico and the United States is commendable because it helped investigate the outbreak and identify solutions (Walt, 2009).
Global Rules on human rights
The Swine flu outbreak introduced various rules that affected humans. According to IHR 2005, humans were subjected to compulsory quarantine, isolation, and treatment, which infringed their political and civil rights. International travelers are treated with dignity and respect according to the prescribed law without discrimination. The international health organizations aim at protecting the public while applying scientific principles and health information (Walt, 2009). They identify threats posed and place restrictive and intrusive measures on them. Humans benefit from global cooperation because WHO introduces a non-discriminatory means of accessing sick individuals and taking them to hospitals. There are anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu allocated equally in all countries. The process ends discrimination among the deprived and defenseless members of the society.
Conclusion
Swine flu calamity spread rapidly to most countries in the world. The consequences are far reaching to all classes of people. The situation is affecting the low and middle-income earners, especially in developing countries. Globally, swine flu solutions are found through continued negotiations and sharing samples from avian influenza. The samples demonstrate the critical nature of the virus and surveillance measures taken in its response.
References
Barrett, S. (2006). Transnational public goods for health. Expert paper series, 1-33.
Walt, S. (2009).What Swine flu tells us about global cooperation. Document 4, 1-2.