There is little question that the international spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an alarming development that the global public health community must confront as a matter of some priority. Reducing the incidence of new cases will take the concerted effort and participation of all community sectors, and will require strong political leadership. The World Health Organization (WHO) is b...

Whereas deliver of health care is nationally based with great differences in ways of service provision and financing between countries, and thus not subject to international regulations, genetic testing has become more exposed to international regulations and conventions. This is due to an interest of protecting the individual for abuse by inappropriate use of genetic information, but also to t...

Cyanotoxins are now recognised by international and national health and environment agencies as significant health hazards. These toxins, and the cells which produce them, are also vulnerable to exploitation for illegitimate purposes. Cyanotoxins are increasingly being subjected to national and international guidelines and regulations governing their production, storage, packaging and transport...

The International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, as the overarching instrument for global health security, are designed to prevent and cope with major international public health threats. But poor implementation in countries hampers their effectiveness. In the wake of a number of major international health crises, such as the 2014 Ebola and 2016 Zika outbreaks, and the findings of a number of h...

The One Health approach encompasses multiple themes and can be understood from many different perspectives. This paper expresses the viewpoint of those in charge of responding to public health events of international concern and, in particular, to outbreaks of zoonotic disease. Several international organisations are involved in responding to such outbreaks, including the United Nations (UN) an...

Methods Using the example of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), we analyzed the potential role of the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legally binding agreement between 194 States Parties, whose aim is “to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease” with respect to AMR and assess whether selected CRE events ...