Hey delegates! It is my pleasure to welcome you to this year s Novice World Health Organization committee! My name is Anna Tao and I ll be your Head Chair for this UHSMUN conference. I m currently a senior at University High School, and I ve been a part of UHSMUN for all four years now. Highlights of my MUN career have been UC Berkeley MUN LXI, making the Columbia MUN team, and upcoming BMUN LXII! Outside of MUN, I also explore my interests in the sciences through neuroscience research at UCI and Uni s Science Olympiad team, so WHO came to be the middle ground for this merging of interests of mine. I am also a novice photographer in training, so please, don t be camera shy! For now though, if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at annatao1@gmail.com. I m more than happy to help you all out. I am really looking forward to this committee and being able to see all of the unique and innovative resolutions you will all be sure to bring forth. Conference is going to be great, and it s going to be a wonderful, learning experience for us all. Looking forward to seeing you then, Best, Anna Tao Head Chair of Novice World Health Organization University High School Model United Nations, Spring Session
Topic 1: Illegal Organ Trade Topic Background Growing demand and monetary reward is fuelling increased illegal human trafficking of organs. With an unprecedented shortage of potential organ donors and thousands of patients in dire need on transplant lists, the black market sale of people s organs, known as illegal organ trafficking, has proliferated extensively in recent years. The dimensions of this illegal trade now draw comparisons to those of weapons and illegal substances, indicating the often unacknowledged scope that is nonetheless, increasing in spite of reliable data on organ transplantation activity. Of the various means to supply international organ trafficking, there are perhaps three most prominent methods for an organ to be prepared for surgery that are to be considered. The first case is where a recipient travels to another country to receive the operation and organ from a native resident of said country. These transplants are often facilitated by healthcare officials who arrange for the travel of patients as well as donors. The second case is where live donors are brought into the country of the patient for a transplant to occur. The third, is where organs are smuggled in over international borders. Others involve both the donor and recipient moving to a third country for the surgery in order to avoid the law, or obtaining said organ from the corpses of unclaimed prisoners post-execution. Transplants depend upon a number of issues including donor and recipient matching, health of organs, willingness of donors to donate organs, etc. and so there is much debate on the extent to which resources should be invested regarding illegal organ transportation and harvesting. But if accepted as such however, it may be concluded that the majority of organs in concern are kidneys, as nearly all others require that the donor be deceased. Past UN & International Action Prior to about the 1980s, monetary transactions for organ donations were legal in most countries, that is, until the UN s National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, in which the sale of human organs was outlawed in the United States and several other countries with the UK and China shortly following suit. Recently, countries such as the Philippines, countries with previously very successful organ markets, have outlawed the organ trade. As of now, organ trade is illegal in all countries except for Iran. Shortly after passing the National Organ Transplant Act, the UN passed a follow up proposal to ensure the proper application of the term organ trade and necessary protocols if encountered. The servitude or the removal of organs is defined as a form of trafficking exploitation by the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which is also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol. This refers specifically to at any
time at which a third party recruits, transports, transfers, harbors or receives a person, using threats (or use) of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of authority or a position of vulnerability in order to remove said person s organ(s). Possible Solutions Recent proliferation of the organ trade has in part, been due to the lack of law enforcement officials realizing or recognizing the existence of the problem. Perpetrators of organ trafficking whether in the organ removal, relocation, or transplant surgery, require proper equipment and manpower for successful identification followed by proper judgment under a court of law. Despite the existence of laws banning the trade of organs in countries all over the world (except Iran), underground trafficking of organs continues upon an international scale. National governments now run investigations into suspicious activities regarding organ trade in order to catch and prosecute organ gangs and corrupt doctors, yet is this enough? Apparently not. The insufficient supply of organs creates the need for harvesting organs from other sources with monetary compensation. Scientists and teams of researchers have been looking to artificial means of cultivating organs for transplant, such as xenotransplantation, and have currently met relatively moderate success depending upon the organ in question. Researchers have also looked into the possibility of pharmaceutical means to reduce the possibility of rejection side effects and to prolong the sustainability of the transplanted organ within recipients. (For inspiration: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleno/32409/title/replacement-parts/) Questions to Consider In many cases, middle men who buy organs from desperate and poverty ridden people, such as victims of natural disasters, often make a substantial profit margin by purchasing them at a low price and selling them to wealthier seeking recipients. This arises the question of whether or not organs may be treated as property, human kidneys and lungs to be bought whenever required. But if not, how are these organ gangs that often exploit the poor, the refugees, sometimes without monetary compensation even? Yet these organ gangs are no alone, often hiring/bribing highly regarded doctors and their superiors to perform these transplantation surgeries on their mobile surgery tables and fridges so as to dodge the law. Sterility and safety of conditions are consequently frequently overlooked, resulting in the development of illnesses such as HIV and Hepatitis for both the donors and recipients. How should this source of supply to the organ trade be addressed?
Cadaver Calculator (link at bottom of page) http://www.swide.com/art-culture/current-affairs/selling-your-body-how-much-are-your-organsworth-on-the-black-market/2013/1/27 Bibliography CBC. Transplant Tourism. http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyemonday/feature_030308.html. Globe and Mail. The perils of transplant tourism. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article964133.ece. "Human Organs and Tissue Transplantation." World Health Organization. N.p., 2012. Web. http://www.who.int/ethics/topics/human_transplant/en/ National Geographic. Organ Shortage Fuels Illicit Trade in Human Parts. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0116_040116_explorgantraffic.html Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/protocoltraffic.htm. "Organ Trafficking: Global Solutions for a Global Problem: Efforts to Curb Transplant Tourism." Medscape News Today. WebMD, 2012. Web. <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716188_6>. Shinmazono, Yosuke. "The state of the international organ trade: a provisional picture based on integration of available information." World Health Organization. WHO, Dec. 2007. Web. http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/12/06-039370/en/. World Health Organization. Human Organ and Tissue Transplant. http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/eb113/eeb11314.pdf
Topic 2: Prevalence of Drug Resistant Pathogens Topic Background Control of many infectious diseases became possible with the pioneering work of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur and the introduction of the germ theory of disease. With bacteriologic cultivation techniques came the first isolation and identification of etiologic agents; virus cultivation and identification became available some decades later. Reservoirs of microorganisms and their life cycles were identified; the epidemiology and natural history of many infectious diseases were described, and successful control measures were initiated. Water treatment, vector control, and rodent reduction programs followed. By the beginning of the 20 th century, the principles of vaccination began to be realized in earnest, antibiotics were discovered and developed, and the incidence and prevalence of many infectious diseases and their fatality rates consequently dropped to dramatic lows. The early part of the century is appropriately regarded as a golden age in public health. But a careful review of infectious disease trends showed a fragile equilibrium between humans and infectious microorganisms. Infectious diseases are still broadly endemic and maintain a large reservoir of agents that have the potential for rapid and widespread dissemination. Infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, even as the International Code of Diseases places many infectious diseases in other categories. Recent outbreaks underscore the potential for the sudden appearance of infectious diseases in currently unaffected populations. Newly emerging infectious diseases, often with unknown long-term public health impact, continue to be identified. Resulting from newly identified and previously unknown infectious, emerging agents are regularly added to the list of major diseases or etiologic agents identified within just the last 20 years, particularly with the availability of nucleic acid amplification techniques for detecting and identifying otherwise noncultivable microorganisms. The rapidly growing number of resistant bacteria to an increasing range of antibiotics only acerbates the issue, as in many lower socioeconomic regions first choice antibiotics have lost their power to clear infections of Escherichia coli, Neisseria gonorrhea, Pneumococcus, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus increasing not only the cost and length of treatment against epidemic diarrheal diseases, gonorrhea, pneumonia and otitis, but also setting the biological stage for the rise of just as infectious divergent mutated strains. Past UN & International Action Since 1992, alarm over emerging and re-emerging diseases has resulted in a number of national and international initiatives to restore and improve surveillance and control of communicable diseases. In 1995, a World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution urged all Member States to strengthen surveillance for infectious diseases in order to promptly detect re-emerging diseases and identify new infectious diseases. This resolution led to WHO's establishment of the
Division of Emerging and other Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Control (EMC), whose mission is to strengthen national and international capacity in the surveillance and control of communicable diseases, including those that represent new, emerging and re-emerging public health problems. Possible Solutions To combat new and reemerging infectious diseases, the CDC, in collaboration with other federal agencies, state and local health departments, academic institutions, professional societies, international organizations, and experts in public health infectious diseases and medical microbiology developed a plan entitled Addressing Emerging Infectious Diseases Threats: A Prevention Strategy for the United States. Though applicable not solely within the US, the plan has four major goals; surveillance and response, applied research, prevention and control, and infrastructure. The CDC s plan provides a framework for the agency to work collaboratively with its many partners to identify and reverse worrisome trends in infectious diseases. Microbiologists, infectious diseases specialists, and other basic and clinical scientists must collaborate with behavioral scientists in an interdisciplinary effort to prevent and control emerging infections. Enriching the capacity to respond to urgent threats to health and developing nationwide prevention strategies are also of top concern, especially given the extremely dynamic nature of disease trends and the complexity of factors contributing to their emergence. The Future of Public Health further emphasizes the relationship between a sound public health infrastructure and infectious disease prevention programs. Infrastructure improvements must become a nation s top priority, just as they are among the CDC s. Questions to Consider As delegates you will draft suggestions for national governments to take into consideration in reacting to this 21st century shift in perspective regarding prevention and ways to fight emerging infectious outbreaks through treatment. (Esp. epidemiology and the various drivers of emerging infectious diseases). It is alright to focus on the biological aspects of concern, but remember, it is also just as equally about ensuring the effective political and social international implementation of such solutions around the world. In 1967, the Surgeon General of the United States said that The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases. We have basically wiped out infection in the United States. We know now that that statement was premature yet this perception has already been entrenched within the minds of many influential politicians around the world. How do you shift this current perception regarding emerging and reemerging diseases, not only amongst the well-educated, but also those of often lower socioeconomic status? What are the pros & cons of raising awareness?
Given the extremely dynamic nature of infectious diseases evolution in regards to the vast number of factors contributing to their emergence/reemergence, investing the immense quantity of resources to mapping out each strain and each factor within each scenario, is this worthy of your nation s investment, or not? (Consider the geography and historical occurrence of diseases within your nation s past) If so, which major factors would you recommend that your nation amongst others investigate? Works Cited: Hughes, James M. "Emerging Infectious Diseases: A CDC Perspective." Center for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2001. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/7/7/pdfs/01-7702.pdf>. Geddes, Alasdair. "Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy." Infection in the Twenty-first Century: Predictions and Postulates. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2000. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/6/873.full>. IOM. "Emerging Infections, Microbial Threats to Health, and the Microbiome." Emerging Infections, Microbial Threats to Health, and the Microbiome. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Dec. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://iom.edu/activities/publichealth/microbialthreats/2012-dec-11.aspx>. NIAD. "Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases." National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Leading Research to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Infections, Immunologic, and Allergic Diseases. NIAD, NIH, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/emerging/pages/default.aspx>. World Health Organization. "New and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases." New and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. World Health Organization, Aug. 1998. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact097.html>.