APEC 17th ISTWG Special Seminar on Emerging Infections in Asia Pacific: Proceedings, Monday, August 16, 1999, Seattle, Washington, USA

Published

February 1, 2000

Author(s)

A M. Kimball, T G. Harris

Abstract

Even as financial ills linger for many of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies, a recent Seattle meeting of the trade group focused squarely on that other kind of health: human.The meeting, held in August as part of the APEC Industrial Science and Technology Working Group's semi-annual gathering, brought together some of the Asia-Pacific region's best experts on infectious diseases and outbreak control. By the next day, health officials from Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the United States, and other economies began working on a new plan for increasing the exchange of information and pooling of resources.Why should APEC concern itself with health issues? APEC's goal of free and open trade between the 21 economies has an irrefutable tie to outbreaks of infectious diseases, which can close borders to the flow of goods and travelers in a matter of hours or days. Just prior to the founding of APEC community in 1989, the global AIDS pandemic reawakened the world to its continued vulnerability to the emergence and transmission of new infectious diseases. Since then, outbreaks have continued to demonstrate the Asia-Pacific region's vulnerability. Hong Kong's experience with

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 6410

Report Number

6410

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Keywords

APEC, Asian Pacific Economics Cooperation, economics, health, infectious diseases, international trade

Citation

Kimball, A. and Harris, T. (2000), APEC 17th ISTWG Special Seminar on Emerging Infections in Asia Pacific: Proceedings, Monday, August 16, 1999, Seattle, Washington, USA, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed July 27, 2024)