ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapter of this book. The book outlines the approach to the topic politics of disease surveillance as a statement and a question. Global cooperation in the area of infectious disease surveillance has grown in both the technology and the actors available to assist these programmes. The book demonstrates to the technology that informs global surveillance and the actions required to follow up on global surveillance is inherently political. Surveillance is primarily approached and understood as a public health service, but it is political act with implications in terms of human rights, governance, resource distribution and cooperation amongst countries. Outbreaks in remote locations in Sumatra, Indonesia, become global news in a couple of days due to the increased normalization of disease outbreak reporting via social media and traditional media, post SARS. The book demonstrates just how disease surveillance systems have matured and become vital to the international community.
