The Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in both its scale and impact. Out of this human calamity has come renewed attention to global health security—its definition, meaning, and the practical implications for programmes and policy. For example, how does a government begin to strengthen its core public health capacities, as demanded by the International Health Regulations? What counts as a global health security concern? In the context of the governance of global health, including WHO reform, it will be important to distil lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak. The Lancet invited a group of respected global health practitioners to reflect on these lessons, to explore the idea of global health security, and to offer suggestions for next steps. Their contributions describe some of the major threats to individual and collective human health, as well as the values and recommendations that should be considered to counteract such threats in the future. Many different perspectives are proposed. Their common goal is a more sustainable and resilient society for human health and wellbeing.

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The present paper provides a research review of recent literature on international migration by the highly skilled. Its principal aim is to identify the themes which are being discussed, and suggest where research into the subject might best proceed. The paper begins by examining the existing framework for study. Definitions and data availability are discussed, followed by a consideration of theoretical perspectives and their attendant methodologies and models. This is followed by a review of the two most important perspectives in extant research, economic and socio‐cultural, leading into a review of what is known about the geography of migration by the highly skilled. The systems described are subject to a process of management which is discussed in the penultimate section. Finally, the paper proposes future directions for research which involve a reconceptualisation of migration by the highly skilled as one element in the international movement of expertise. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article explores limitations on the concept of transnationalism, through examination of two empirical case studies of communities characterized by emerging transnational practices. Mirroring recent shifts of attention in studies of transnational migration away from US-based examples of established migrant workers, the article focuses on Bosnian refugees in the UK and The Netherlands, and Eritrean refugees in the UK and Germany. It stresses the importance of historical context, and the interconnection of social, political and institutional factors in producing highly uneven patterns of transnational activities both within and between these two groups.

This contribution critically reviews existing data and other recent sources to provide an overview of the dimensions and dynamics of contemporary irregular migration. First it considers the utility and uses of irregular migrant statistics, considering their inherent inaccuracy, their inability to distinguish different types of irregular migrant, the way that data is collected, and the purposes to which it is put. The second section reviews the conceptual and practical challenges associated with counting irregular migrants. Conceptual challenges include: differentiating stocks from flows, addressing the variety of routes into irregularity, distinguishing migrant smuggling from human trafficking, separating asylum from aggregate statistics, and acknowledging that migrants' legal status can change quickly. Practical challenges associated with a series of direct and indirect methods for collecting statistics (including national censuses) are reviewed, and the difficulty for researchers to access official statistics highlighted. The third section presents estimates of the scale and scope of irregular migration, and data from regularisation programmes in various high‐income countries. The fourth section reviews explanations for irregular migration, distinguishing macro‐level explanations that focus on structural causes from meso‐level explanations concerned with the role of policies and intermediaries, and also notes the shortage of micro‐level explanations concerned with individual and family decision‐making. The final section considers the consequences of irregular migration, with a particular focus on security. The review suggests that while irregular migration can undermine state sovereignty, the implications of irregular migration for the ‘human security’ of those involved should not be underestimated. The conclusion considers some implications for future research. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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