Dimensions of Health Security—A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic is a stark example of health security politics, despite the pandemic not being currently labeled as a health security concern in political discourse. With high levels of morbidity and mortality globally and a highly contagious pathogen this pandemic is a prime and unprecedented example of a global health security threat. Analyses of the politics and practicalities of confronting health-related threats, of policy options and institutional approaches, however, hinge on the way these challenges are constructed and on the way the dimensions of the concept of health security are charted. In 2015 Horton and Das noted that there was no simple definition of health security. [5] Indeed, there has been little consensus among analysts over the meaning and parameters of health security. [16-19] These disagreements, Aldis argues, have effects beyond analytical debates, as they hinder communications and collaboration on global health initiatives, creating confusion and mistrust among stakeholders. [18] They also inhibit comparative evaluation, critique of existing analysis, or the possibility of consistent policy recommendations. Conceptual analyses of the two constitutive parts of health security illustrate the difficulties of coming up with a simple definition and the inherent tensions and contestations in such debates. Given these difficulties, it is argued here that a framework for conceptual analysis of "health security," instead of a fixed definition, would provide valuable space to evaluate the key features of existing analysis, the explicit and implicit assumptions about the nature and parameters of health security politics underpinning current policy responses, as well as possible alternative conceptualizations and ways of thinking about health security. Health security politics is a burgeoning and contested field of analysis and practice with the potential to affect security thinking beyond its own parameters. This article aims to contribute to debates both about the scope and meaning of health security and about the scope and meaning of security more broadly. To achieve this, it first presents a brief review of the scope and focus of contemporary conceptual debates of health security; second, it applies Baldwin's [20] framework for the concept of security to demonstrate how conservative the current definition of health security is; and thirdly, it proposes an alternative framing with a view to demonstrate the benefits of thinking about health security in broader more inclusive ways, which has the potential to improve global responses to current and future health-related challenges. Discussions of the politics and practicalities of confronting health security challenges-from infectious disease outbreaks to antimicrobial resistance and the silent epidemic of noncommunicable diseases-hinge on the conceptualization of health security. There is no consensus among analysts about the specific parameters of health security. This inhibits comparative evaluation and critique, and affects the consistency of a...

Ethical health security in the age of antimicrobial resistance

“… 20 89 For example, there is a discussion within international relations literature that the state-centric, militaristic view held within security studies is a normative choice, and not the only possible or valid option when it comes to health security. 92 Some scholars argue health security can adopt a ‘positive’ lens that instead enables more human-centric values. 92 In the context of AMR, as alluded to above, the way in which we approach AMR as a threat to health security may also look different depending on the values we lean on, whether global justice or solidarity, or a more protectionist posture, for example.…”

“… 92 Some scholars argue health security can adopt a ‘positive’ lens that instead enables more human-centric values. 92 In the context of AMR, as alluded to above, the way in which we approach AMR as a threat to health security may also look different depending on the values we lean on, whether global justice or solidarity, or a more protectionist posture, for example.…”

A Chief Health Security Officer for Every Academic Health Center: Improving Readiness, Response, Recovery, and Resilience

“…The COVID-19 pandemic, which has been described as an "unprecedented example of a global health security threat, " 11 underscored the need for a CHSO at every AHC. Throughout the pandemic, AHCs rose to the challenge of fulfilling their tripartite mission of caring for patients, conducting cutting-edge research, and training the next generation of physicians.…”

COVAX, vaccine donations and the politics of global vaccine inequity

“…As Feldbaum and Michaud [ 10 ] have argued, “countries are increasingly using health initiatives as a means to improve security, project power and influence, improve their international image, or support other traditional foreign policy objectives” (p1). Yet, we seek to move beyond the state-centric bias in the literature on global health security and diplomacy, which leads to insufficient attention to the role of non-state actors and the interplay between national security, diplomatic and commercial interests [ 11 ]. As Kickbusch and Holzscheiter [ 12 ] insist, “at a minimum, the notion of geopolitics needs to include the power of corporations and private foundations” (p3) to understand future developments in global health security.…”