Combating Emerging Infectious Diseases Using the Financial Action Task Force National Risk Assessment Strategy

The COVID-19 outbreak highlights the ongoing threat to global health posed by emerging infectious diseases. As the crisis fades away, attention has turned towards the lessons to be learned for preparedness and response to emerging infectious diseases. Before 2009, national pandemic response actions were guided by global risk assessment and pandemic phases. This changed after the experience of pandemic A(H1N1)2009. Countries have now been advised by the World Health Organization to base response actions on their own assessment of national pandemic risk and severity and the corresponding national pandemic phase. This research seeks to enhance the collective understanding of the national risk-assessment process for managing the risk(s) of new and emerging infections arising anywhere in the world and draws upon principles set out under Recommendation 1 of the Financial Action Task Force’s International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation 2012 (updated 2019). Recommendation 1 of the Financial Action Task Force Standards requires, amongst others, that countries identify, analyse, and evaluate their money laundering and terrorist financing risks and apply anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism measures that are commensurate with the identified risks. The terminology and methodology of this research are based on the 2013 Financial Action Task Force Guidance for National Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment. This book followed the three key stages identified in the Financial Action Task Force guidance of (1) identification, (2) analysis, and (3) evaluation.