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Why is it the United States' job to identify health problems in China? Does any other country have bureaucracies to identify public health issues in other count

Why is it the United States' job to identify health problems in China? Does any other country have bureaucracies to identify public health issues in other countries? Why is the United States expected to be the police watchdog of the world, while simultaneously being critiqued for having a presence in other countries? Why is the United States expected to stand up a separate bureaucracy for public health in China while also paying for the majority of WHO funding, an org that is literally tasked with identifying major global health threats and helping countries get ready? If the United States is now expected to have bureaucracies specific to China and other countries, one must wonder why we're expected to provide services to foreign countries while not actually having sovereignty over them. If there's one thing the Trump administration has done right, it has been to slowly rid America of foreign entanglements. Thank goodness.

nathan_compton 7y ago
To invoke the notion of foreign entanglements in response to an epidemic, which knows no borders and can't really be contained to them, is kind of rich. I think most people here are suggesting that we ought to, even as an isolationist state, if that is your preference, monitor and be prepared for pandemics even if they appear in other countries.
- tathougies 7y ago
  Indeed, and we pay for an organization whose purpose it is to do exactly that. We should be asking why that org (WHO) failed, instead of asking why we didn't fund yet another organization with the exact same mission. The question is why the US should have a unilateral office dedicated to pandemics in China when we have another multilateral one. We should have one or the other, for sure -- monitoring pandemics is important for national security -- but why should we have two?
foogazi 7y ago
> Why is it the United States' job to identify health problems in China? Because a health problem in China, or anywhere in the world, presents a RISK to the the United Stated
- tathougies 7y ago
  > Because a health problem in China, or anywhere in the world, presents a RISK to the the United Stated Correct. This is why we are the primary fund-provider to WHO. We should be asking why that org failed us, not why we didn't have yet another org for the same purpose. And after investigating the failure, we should consider whether or not continuing with that org makes sense, or if we should set up another organization and sever ties with the old one, in the interest of not duplicating effort.
  - foogazi 7y ago
    Not sure what your point is This seems like basic risk management.

nathan_compton 7y ago

To invoke the notion of foreign entanglements in response to an epidemic, which knows no borders and can't really be contained to them, is kind of rich. I think most people here are suggesting that we ought to, even as an isolationist state, if that is your preference, monitor and be prepared for pandemics even if they appear in other countries.

tathougies 7y ago
Indeed, and we pay for an organization whose purpose it is to do exactly that. We should be asking why that org (WHO) failed, instead of asking why we didn't fund yet another organization with the exact same mission. The question is why the US should have a unilateral office dedicated to pandemics in China when we have another multilateral one. We should have one or the other, for sure -- monitoring pandemics is important for national security -- but why should we have two?

foogazi 7y ago

> Why is it the United States' job to identify health problems in China? Because a health problem in China, or anywhere in the world, presents a RISK to the the United Stated

tathougies 7y ago
> Because a health problem in China, or anywhere in the world, presents a RISK to the the United Stated Correct. This is why we are the primary fund-provider to WHO. We should be asking why that org failed us, not why we didn't have yet another org for the same purpose. And after investigating the failure, we should consider whether or not continuing with that org makes sense, or if we should set up another organization and sever ties with the old one, in the interest of not duplicating effort.
- foogazi 7y ago
  Not sure what your point is This seems like basic risk management.