[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 208 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 208

  Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of improving American 
          defenses against the spread of infectious diseases.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 31 (legislative day, July 21), 2003

Mr. Akaka submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of improving American 
          defenses against the spread of infectious diseases.

Whereas the Central Intelligence Agency's January 2000 National Intelligence 
        Estimate (NIE), The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its 
        Implications for the United States, found that infectious diseases are a 
        leading cause of death worldwide and that ``New and reemerging 
        infectious diseases will pose a rising global health threat and will 
        complicate U.S. and global security over the next 20 years'';
Whereas the World Health Organization estimates that infectious diseases 
        accounted for more than 11,000,000 deaths in 2001;
Whereas the NIE observed the number of infectious diseases related deaths within 
        the United States had increased, having doubled to 170,000 since 1980;
Whereas the General Accounting Office noted in its August 2001 report, Global 
        Health: Challenges in Improving Infectious Disease Surveillance Systems, 
        that most of the infectious disease deaths occur in the developing 
        world, but that infectious diseases pose a threat to people in all parts 
        of the world because diseases know no boundaries;
Whereas the NIE remarked that the increase in international air travel and trade 
        will ``dramatically increase the prospects,'' that infectious diseases 
        will ``spread quickly around the globe, often in less time than the 
        incubation period of most diseases'';
Whereas, the NIE commented that many infectious diseases, like the West Nile 
        virus, come from outside U.S. borders and are introduced by 
        international travelers, immigrants, returning U.S. military personnel, 
        or imported animals or foodstuffs;
Whereas diseases coming from overseas such as Acquired Immune Deficiency 
        Syndrome (AIDS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and West Nile 
        virus have had or could have a serious impact on the health and welfare 
        of the U.S. population;
Whereas the NIE found that war, natural disasters, economic collapse, and human 
        complacency around the world are causing a breakdown in health care 
        delivery and helping the emergence or reemergence of infectious 
        diseases;
Whereas, the danger of an outbreak of a deadly disease overseas affecting the 
        United States is increasing;
Whereas the rapid and easy transport of diseases to the United States 
        underscores that Americans are now part of a global public health 
        system;
Whereas the General Accounting Office emphasized that ``disease surveillance 
        provides national and international public health authorities with 
        information they need to plan and manage to control these diseases'';
Whereas the early warning of a disease outbreak is key to its identification, 
        the quick application of countermeasures and the development of cures;
Whereas the United States should strengthen its ability to detect foreign 
        diseases before such diseases reach U.S. borders;
Whereas the G-8 group of industrialized countries at the 2003 Evian summit made 
        a commitment to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; 
        encouraged research into diseases affecting mostly developing countries; 
        committed to working closely with the World Health Organization; and 
        recognized that the spread of SARS ``demonstrates the importance of 
        global collaboration, including global disease surveillance, laboratory, 
        diagnostic and research efforts, and prevention, care, and treatment'';
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plays an important 
        role in foreign disease surveillance, and a key CDC program to 
        strengthen global disease surveillance is its training of foreign 
        specialists in modern epidemiology through its Field Epidemiology 
        Training Programs (FETPs);
Whereas the CDC's FETPs have existed for almost 20 years working with ministries 
        of health around the world and the World Health Organization, and that 
        currently FETPs are in 30 countries throughout the world to support 
        disease detection and provide an essential link in global surveillance; 
        and
Whereas the work of the FETPs is critical to establishing a first line of 
        defense overseas to protect the health of American citizens: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Field 
        Epidemiology Training Programs and related epidemic services 
        and global surveillance programs should receive full support;
            (2) the President should require an annual National 
        Intelligence Estimate on the global infectious disease threat 
        and its implications for the United States;
            (3) the President should propose to the G-8 that the G-8 
        develop and implement a program to train foreign 
        epidemiological specialists in the developing world; and
            (4) the international community should increase funding for 
        the World Health Organization's global disease surveillance 
        capability.
                                 <all>