The Effectiveness of Pandemic Preparations: Legal Lessons From the 2009 Influenza Epidemic

This Article is organized as follows. We first consider the problems that the IHR (2005) were meant to resolve, such as the need for rapid reporting of outbreaks, the related need to minimize disproportionate travel and trade restrictions in response to outbreaks and the need for international leadership to coordinate the global response. We then analyze how the IHR (2005) are designed to achieve this end and how effective a tool the IHR (2005) proved to be during the 2009 influenza outbreak. We also consider the WHO guidelines for communicating with the public during a pandemic and assess the effectiveness of the Mexican government’s pandemic planning and communication strategy in addressing the H1N1 (09) epidemic.

We then consider the role of WTO law in regulating the use of disproportionate trade restrictions in response to disease outbreaks.