The School of Law’s Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy will host a panel discussion on domestic and international issues relating to the Ebola virus Jan. 21 at 12:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall. The event is open free to the public.
The current Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 6,000 lives, and it has spread not only to six African countries, but also to North America and Europe.
Beyond the spread of the disease itself, there also has been a contagion of fear of groups and individuals who may have been exposed to the virus and distrust of official responses to control the outbreak, said panel organizer and moderator Fazal Khan, an associate professor at the law school.
“For governments and public health organizations combating the spread of Ebola, this outbreak poses a significant challenge as these actors have to navigate through legal and public health governance systems at both the international and domestic levels,” Khan said.
With experts in international public health law, domestic public health law and global public health policy, the panel will address what authority the federal government has to detain, isolate and/or quarantine individuals with Ebola; consent and privacy issues for Ebola patients undergoing treatment; travel restrictions for people leaving West Africa and the sealing of borders for countries with an Ebola epidemic; the rollout of experimental drugs being developed in the U.S. to Africa; and the significance of Ebola being identified as a threat to international peace and security by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2177.
The panelists will include Matthew Penn, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Law Program; Polly J. Price, a professor of law at Emory University; and Phaedra S. Corso, the UGA Foundation Professor of Human Health in the College of Public Health.
For more information, contact Laura Tate Kagel at lkagel@uga.edu.