MERS and global health governance

The contemporary global health governance system has evolved over 150 years to facilitate cooperation among states in dealing with cross-border health concerns. This article uses the current outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to examine global health governance’s history, evolution, and status within the political science literature. In particular, the article focuses on the International Health Regulations and the World Health Organization as leading elements of the global health governance system in order to examine both how the system operates and what its shortcomings are.