Topic: Managing Secondary Effects of Disease Outbreaks
Country: Ireland
Delegate Name: Marisa Mooney
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ireland position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
Disease outbreaks cause chaos and panic across the world, but what is often overlooked is the secondary effects that these outbreaks can cause. It is common to see the international community, NGOs, volunteers, experts and the media leaving a disaster-affected zone usually within three months, when in reality basic sanitation facilities and access to basic hygiene may still be unavailable or worsen due to the economic burden of the disasters.
Ireland has not had a disease outbreak since the year 2003, but in the case of an outbreak Ireland has infrastructure to deal with it. Ireland has a comprehensive, government funded public healthcare system, so when diseases do occur citizens can immediately seek medical attention. Because The Republic of Ireland has such strong infrastructure we readily help other countries who are struggling with the secondary effects of disease outbreaks. In 2014 West Africa was devastated by the Ebola crisis.When the virus was eventually been defeated, the countries most affected still needed our generous and ongoing support to help them recover. Ireland provides over €17 million in the region annually, directly and through NGOs.
There is no simple solution to managing the secondary effects of disease outbreaks, but we believe it is the responsibility of financially secure countries, The Republic of Ireland included, to provide assistance and aid to struggling countries. First and foremost, The Republic of Ireland would like to see disease prevention strengthened so the secondary effects would not be an issue. The Republic of Ireland looks forward to discussing these issues to ensure economic, social and cultural stability in all countries
