| Course | SOS-3700 Challenges in U.S. and Global Public Health |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 8 |
| Paper type | Discussion forum: initial response and two comments |
| Length | About 623 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | B.S. in Health Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for SOS 3700 Module 8
Module 8 Discussion: A Pandemic Treaty Without the United States
A Treaty Signed Without Us: The WHO Pandemic Agreement and the Empty American Seat
In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement after more than three years of negotiation, the second legally binding health treaty negotiated under the World Health Organization after the tobacco control convention. Having worked as a respiratory therapist through the worst months of COVID-19, I read it as an attempt to fix the failures we lived through: slow sharing of information, hoarded vaccines and supplies, and poorer countries waiting at the back of the line.
The agreement asks countries to strengthen prevention, including attention to how diseases spill over from animals, an approach called One Health that Kamradt-Scott (2026) argues is one of the agreement's most significant additions. It commits countries to build research and manufacturing capacity in more regions, to share technology on mutually agreed terms and to support a global supply chain network for pandemic products. The most important piece is not finished. A pathogen access and benefit-sharing system, under which countries would share samples and genetic data of dangerous pathogens quickly and manufacturers would make part of their production available to the WHO during a pandemic, was left for a separate annex. The agreement opens for signature only after that annex is adopted and takes effect after sixty countries ratify it.
The United States was not at the table at the end. An executive order on the first day of the new administration in January 2025 began the country's withdrawal from the WHO, which takes effect a year after notice, and the United States later rejected amendments to the International Health Regulations as well. Aremu et al. (2025) argue that the withdrawal weakens global health governance by removing the WHO's largest funder and a major source of technical expertise and data. It also cuts American scientists out of networks, such as global influenza surveillance, that help choose strains for our own flu vaccines.
I think the withdrawal hurts the United States as much as the WHO, a view the textbook's discussion of global health interdependence supports (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2023). Pathogens do not respect treaty membership, and an outbreak that spreads undetected abroad will reach American hospitals. The agreement may be weaker without the United States, but American hospitals and health departments will still live with the consequences of whether it works.
Do you think the agreement can succeed without the United States, or will its absence make other wealthy countries less willing to commit?
Comment on Keisha's Post
Keisha, you raised the concern that a pandemic treaty could let the WHO override American decisions about lockdowns or mask rules. That concern has been widely repeated, but the agreement itself states that it does not give the WHO authority to direct national laws or require measures such as lockdowns, vaccination mandates or travel bans. Like most treaties, it creates obligations that each country carries out through its own laws, and countries that sign it keep control over their own health policy. The deeper sovereignty question may be the opposite one: whether a country that leaves can still count on others to share data with it during the next outbreak.
Comment on Ramon's Post
Ramon, your point about state health departments was something I had not considered. You noted that your state's laboratory exchanges influenza samples with international partners. Withdrawal from the WHO does not automatically end every scientific relationship, but it complicates them, and state laboratories depend on federal agencies that are now outside WHO networks. I wonder whether states with large international airports and ports might try to build their own partnerships abroad to fill the gap, the way some states joined international climate agreements when the federal government stepped back.
References
Aremu, S. O., Adamu, A. I., Obeta, O. K., Ibe, D. O., Mairiga, S. A., Otukoya, M. A., & Barkhadle, A. A. (2025). The United States withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), its implications for global health governance. Globalization and Health, 21, Article 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-025-01137-0
Kamradt-Scott, A. (2026). One Health and the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 75(2), 315-342. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589326101596
Wilensky, S. E., & Teitelbaum, J. B. (2023). Essentials of health policy and law (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Reading the SOS 3700 Module 8 assignment instructions
The Global Public Health Policy forum belongs to Module 8, whose objective is to characterize public health and health care systems outside the United States. It is one of ten graded SOS-3700 discussions that share 25 percent of the grade. In every forum you answer first and then return for two or more replies that give reasons, so agreeing or disagreeing counts only when you say why. Prompts in this module typically ask about international health organizations, treaties, global health financing, or how policy in wealthy countries affects health in poorer ones, a theme the catalog description names directly. Your mentor's question in the classroom sets the focus, so read it closely before choosing your example.
How this SOS 3700 Module 8 example is built
The initial response opens with what was adopted and when, then connects it to the writer's pandemic experience in one sentence, which gives the post a reason to exist. A paragraph explains the agreement's main commitments and is precise about what remains unfinished, the pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex, and how the treaty takes effect. A third paragraph covers the American withdrawal with a cited argument about its effects and a concrete example, influenza strain selection. The writer then states a position and ends with a question. The comments correct a common misconception about sovereignty with what the agreement actually says, and extend a classmate's point about state laboratories with a comparison to state action on climate.
Reading the SOS 3700 Module 8 grading rubric
Each discussion is scored from 0 to 100 on the quality and quantity of participation: relevant course content, awareness of classmates' posts and contributions that advance the conversation. In a global policy forum, mentors look for accurate description of international bodies and agreements, including their limits, and for analysis of what they mean for the United States or for poorer countries. Precision about current events matters, since treaties and withdrawals move through stages that are easy to misstate. A clear position supported by a scholarly source earns more than a summary of news coverage. Comments that correct misinformation politely with evidence, or that bring a new angle, show the engagement the syllabus describes.
SOS 3700 Module 8 help from the desk
Global health forums often attract posts that summarize a news article without analysis, or that repeat claims about international agreements without checking the text. Read the primary source, or a reliable summary of it, before posting. Be exact about status: adopted, signed, ratified and in force are different stages. State your own view and support it. When you disagree with a classmate, cite what the document says rather than arguing from impressions, and keep the tone respectful on politically charged topics. The desk can write your Module 8 post and replies once it has the question; the first custom one is free and tends to be ready in a couple of days.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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SOS 3700 Module 8 questions, answered
Where can I find a free SOS 3700 Module 8 sample paper?
It is printed in full on this page: an initial response on the 2025 WHO Pandemic Agreement and the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, plus two comments and references.
What is the WHO Pandemic Agreement?
The international pact the World Health Assembly approved in May 2025, under which signing countries promise to work on stopping outbreaks early, spread vaccine production more widely, share know-how and cooperate on supplies.
Is the Pandemic Agreement in force?
Not yet; it opens for signature after its pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex is adopted and takes effect after sixty countries ratify it.
Does the Pandemic Agreement let the WHO order lockdowns?
No; the text states that it gives the WHO no authority to direct national laws or require measures such as lockdowns, mandates or travel bans.
When did the United States leave the WHO?
An executive order in January 2025 began the withdrawal, which takes effect one year after notice is given.