[Book chapter] : The EU as a Health Actor in Asia: EU-Asian Interregional Response to Highly Pathogenic and (Re)emerging Diseases

New book chapter on " The EU as a Health Actor in Asia: EU-Asian Interregional Response to Highly Pathogenic and (Re)emerging Diseases" in SU Hungdah (ed.), Asian Countries’ Strategies towards the European Union in an Inter-regionalist Context, National Taiwan University (NTU) Press, Taipei, 2015.

http://www.press.ntu.edu.tw/?act=book&refer=ntup_book00766

Abstract.

Highly pathogenic and (re)emerging diseases (HPEDs)2 cause serious crises, affect livelihoods and could potentially undermine economy as well as societal stability. In the last three decades, over 30 new pathogens have been detected, 75% of which have originated from animals. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or pandemic influenza (H5N1) has

been the most significant of these during the last five years. These new pathogens – or zoonosis – remain unpredictable and continue to emerge and spread across countries, and many of them have deeply affected countries in Asia. In that region and in Europe, governments as well as regional organizations, such as the European Union (EU), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have made significant efforts to provide a response to these challenges of global health with mixed results. Since 2006, Asia and Europe have been involved in several Asia-Europe interregional initiatives aiming to respond notably to the pandemic influenza threat. 

In that context and in the light of the current debate within the discipline of International Relations (IR) about the nature and role of interregionalism, this chapter proposes first to map the different Asia-Europe interregional health initiatives dedicated to the prevention and

control of pandemic influenza and to categorize them into a conceptualized typology in order to better appreciate the very nature of Asia-Europe health interregionalism in that specific field of public health. Then, it appreciates the potential functions of some of these initiatives and by extension of the health interregionalism between Asia and Europe.