A/HRC/12/27 page 15 at all stages. International cooperation should also improve national and local capacities, including in search and rescue, and where appropriate, improve regional and subregional capacities of developing countries for disaster preparedness and response, which may be provided in closer proximity to the site of a disaster, more efficiently and at a lower cost. 37. In response to the questionnaire, the point of view was expressed that the development of international law would recognize people as subjects of the law, with a clear-cut role for the people in global responses to disasters. A common guideline could, for example, be developed for people to help others across borders in times of disasters, whether natural or man-made, in the spirit of universal brotherhood. Over time, this dual approach of people and States helping each other would strengthen the principle of international solidarity. B. Combating diseases 38. By recognizing the interdependence of individual and collective human rights, it becomes apparent that there need not always be a trade-off between advancing individual human rights and promoting public health. In a globalized world, the collective enjoyment of public health is a precondition for the individual human right to health, with public health systems addressing the collective determinants of health outside the control of the individual. Through a right to public health, the discourse of collective rights can be used to supplement individual rights in affirming the inherent equality and solidarity of all people.17 In the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the right to health is leading to a broad movement of international solidarity, which requires that it be given primacy over, for instance, intellectual property rights. 39. The revised International Health Regulations, adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 May 2005, demonstrate a greater willingness of Member States and the organization to assert WHO authority not only in coping with emergent, serious communicable disease threats and outbreaks, but also in establishing a firmer international legal basis for international scientific cooperation to that end. Since the Regulations are international legally-binding instruments, the States parties to them are under an international obligation of scientific cooperation; scientific cooperation to limit the spread of major diseases is therefore obligatory. The Secretary-General reiterated his call for international unity in relation to the influenza A (H1N1) outbreak worldwide, stating that this required the cooperation of the whole international community, its leadership and commitment. The outbreak is a major test of how well WHO and its States members apply the International Health Regulations of 2005 to a dangerous outbreak. The declaration of level 6 in a 6-point scale is a signal to Governments, ministries of health and other ministries, the pharmaceutical and business communities that certain actions should be taken with extreme urgency. Speaking to the World Health Assembly on 18 May, the Director-General of WHO emphasized the need for equity and solidarity in the response to global public health challenges. 17 See B.M. Meier, “Employing health rights for global justice: the promise of public health in response to the insalubrious ramifications of globalization”, 39, Cornell International Law Journal, 2006.