Health security is a concept that encompasses activities and measures across sovereign boundaries that mitigate public health incidents to ensure the health of populations. It is an evolving paradigm within the fields of international relations and security studies. Proponents of health security posit that all states have a responsibility to protect the health and wellbeing of their populations. Opponents suggest health security impacts civil liberties and the equal distribution of resources. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health security encompasses the "activities required to minimise the danger and impact of acute public health events that endanger the collective health of populations living across geographical regions and international boundaries". It is the responsibility of governments globally to protect the health of their populations. The advent of new security challenges, resulting from increasing global vulnerability to infectious diseases has created demand for greater global commitment and collaboration towards public health. Globalisation, and the advent of transnational concerns regarding the spread of infectious disease, have become integral to national and international security agendas. Disease, pandemics, and epidemics have become of increasing concern for global policymakers and governments, requiring mobilisation of essential resources for the implementation of rapid and effective health procedures. The WHO, and initiatives such as the Global Health Security Agenda are central to advocacy of health security – aiming to improve detection, prevention, and response to infectious disease through public health surveillance and partnerships between states. Health security is a concept or framework for public health issues which includes protection of national populations from external health threats such as pandemics. Four types of security may be considered in this context: biosecurity; global health security; human security; and national security.
Origins The WHO Constitution states that "the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent upon the fullest co-operation of individuals and States". Prevalence of biosecurity threats, both naturally occurring and intentional acts of bioterrorism, have resulted in the emergence of health security agendas globally. The occurrence and threat of infectious diseases has increased partially because of the advent of global aviation and the shifting nature of human society. Transnational diffusion of diseases may have created many global health insecurities. The prevalence of disease outbreaks and increased transnational spread of disease in the twentieth century required policymakers to consider new security frameworks. The global spread of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s provoked political responses, prompting the United Nations Security Council to consider disease as a threat to international security. In 2001, World Health Assembly Resolution 54.14 determined health security as a strategy for the prevention of the spread of diseases across national borders. Contemporary security agendas have expanded from traditional security concerns, such as terrorism, war, and weapons of mass destruction, to biological threats. Whereas traditional approaches to security regard the State as the referent object of analysis, the development of human security highlights the need to include economic, personal, community, political, food, and health insecurities. Health security is essential to achieving human security. Not all health issues are considered threats to national security. Health security focusses on pandemics, epidemics, and the spread of infectious disease. Infectious diseases are the most significant threat to public health. Diseases have the capacity to cause high levels of morbidity and mortality, incite societal fear and disruption, and provoke economic shocks. The emergence of new and recurring infectious diseases, including the 2002–2003 SARS coronavirus novel and the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus, pose considerable threat to the global population. The rapid, worldwide spread of microbial pathogens has increased demand for strategic health security policies. The expansion of global aviation networks has increased the speed, rate, and volume of connections between nations, increasing the risk of the spread of infectious disease. Conventional measures of disease control are no longer viable to mitigate threats to public health.
Role of organisations
World Health Organization (WHO) The creation of the WHO in 1948 recognised the severity of epidemiological events in the wake of the 1918 Spanish Influenza. During WWII, the security implications of major epidemic events, including malaria, cholera, yellow fever, typhoid, and typhus, demonstrated the need to establish an institution to mitigate threats to human life and the subsequent economic impacts of such events. The WHO was imbued with the constitutional authority to combat pandemics and epidemics. The WHO has an official role in the guidance and prevention policy of global disease. It acts as intermediary between states to ensure the safety of populations through collective health action. The WHO oversees the prevention, control, and resolution of infectious disease, assisting governments globally. It has a coordinating role and the authority to direct international health activities to manage infectious disease outbreaks and health security. The WHO's 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) established standards for the detection and response to international disease outbreak. The 194 countries that are WHO signatories are bound by the IHR, implemented to aid in the prevention and response to public health threats. Signatories are required to report public health events that might pose threat to the international population within 24 hours of detection. Enhanced disease surveillance technologies have enabled effective and timely detection and response to public health events.
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