Changing ethos of international health cooperation in response to epidemics and vectors

Abstract

The work addresses, from a reflexive dimension, the most relevant elements that have influenced international cooperation in relation to the approach to vector-borne diseases (VBD), emphasizing the period from the middle of the 20th century to the present time. Public opinion is one of the elements that it is considered pertinent to include when giving the possibility of assessing the media dimension of diseases, particularly when epidemics or pandemics  occur. In this way, it is invited to (re)think the dominant tradition, of a vertical order, in health cooperation, when a new paradigm of interaction seems to be glimpsed in the international field, tending to horizontal cooperation; with this, a new ethos with implications for health diplomacy is being sought, and particularly with regard to the perception and management of VBD-related epidemics.