The recent Ebola crisis that shook West Africa, exceeded any previous Ebola epidemic and later was declared a pandemic by the WHO not only stretched local health care systems, but also revealed deep structural deficiencies in the international response to health issues of such a scale. The outbreak of this virus that crossed boarders easily and cost the lives of so many people raises fundamental questions regarding the actors and legal mechanisms designed and applied to manage the outbreak of highly infectious diseases.

These questions were at the heart of a workshop on “International Health Governance of Disease Outbreaks” which took place from 3-4 March 2016 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public and International Law in Heidelberg.

Visit the Völkerrechtsblog for more information.