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Seattle Forum Educates Business Leaders on Infectious Diseases

Seattle, one of the major cities on the Pacific Coast, 100 miles south of the Canadian border, serves as a major gateway to the United States for people, products and, consequently, infectious diseases. A hub of commerce between Asia and the United States, Washington State is home to many businesses with international holdings. Indeed, according to the Washington State Office of Trade & Economic Development, the state is the fifth largest exporter in the United States. The third largest exporter to China, Washington exported $2.9 billion to China and $1.6 billion to Taiwan in 2001. The Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County estimates that one-third of the jobs in the state are linked to international trade.

With the advent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), business leaders with interests in Asia, particularly in China, experienced the effects of a disease outbreak on travel, trade and the bottom line. Overnight, Seattle's international business sector became, whether it liked it or not, a part of the global health community.

A poll done by Lake Snell Perry & Associates (LSPA), commissioned by the Global Health Council, revealed that, like most Americans, citizens of Washington State consider global infectious diseases such as SARS a significant threat. In response, the Global Health Council, in partnership with key Seattle organizations such as the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County, the National Center for APEC, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, held a Local-Global Health Forum, Protecting Washington's Health & Economy in an Era of Globalization. More than 100 business leaders and global health professionals attended the June 9th event, which occurred a mere 90 days after the SARS outbreak was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Forum moderator, Dr. Bill H. Foege, a fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and chair of the Global Health Council's board of directors, discussed the correlation between development and health, calling for an increase in partnerships between the private and public sectors to combat global infectious diseases. Speaker Dr. Ann Marie Kimball, director of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Emerging Infections Network, and a professor of epidemiology and health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, explained how increases in trade and travel have added to the speed and distance at which diseases can spread. Speaker Robert A. Kapp, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, which has 225 member firms nationwide, discussed how limitations in travel between China and the U.S. have impacted business virtually overnight. He said, "WHO and the CDC became arbiters of business life." Indeed, the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle even began hosting links to health and travel websites. The decrease in travel to Asia resulted in a 45percent reduction in flights to and from China alone according to OAG, an organization that tracks flight schedule information. The cancellation of flights not only made travel to and from Asia more difficult, it also compounded the losses of an already financially-compromised airline industry.

The technological advances that expedite the movement of people and goods - particularly agricultural products - also open the door to allow infectious diseases to travel more rapidly than ever before. The global health community needs to better control newly emerging threats before they reach epidemic proportions. In addition, the increases in population and urbanization are compounding the already dire sanitary situations in many developing countries. While the travel restrictions to SARS-affected regions now have been lifted, the economic impact of the disease continues to resonate in the Asia-Pacific region and throughout the world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation also provided financial support for the forum, one in a series held in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Portland, Seattle, Tucson and Washington, DC.

Visit http://www.globalhealth.org for information on the Council's activities.

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