Responsibility for Epidemics

Worldwide, highly infectious diseases reflect global inequities: they make up five of the top ten leading causes of death in low-income countries, while constituting only one of the top ten causes of death in high-income countries. Yet, highly infectious diseases typically do not respect borders, posing transnational challenges that require cooperation and action through law. This article argues for a new visionary framework of responsibility to: (1) recognize special situations of need in one or more countries with epidemic diseases; (2) assign greater responsibility to those who have contributed more to an epidemic; and (3) assign greater responsibility to those who have more resources or capacity to deal with an epidemic. Significantly, it accounts for structural inequality and provides useful guidance to state and international actors in the face of epidemics, shifting extant conceptualizations of responsibility in novel ways.