In recent years, global health efforts have engaged on infectious diseases, monitoring, prevention, care, and research and development. In an ear of globalization and geopolitical shifts, new aspects of the nexus between infectious diseases and global health security are coming to the forefront. The notion of “Global Health” did not fall from the sky but was instead established from several precursors that began in the colonial medicine of the 10th and early 20th centuries, which developed into “Tropical Medicine” and afterwards “International Health”. Since then, technologically advanced countries pushed the development of an international regime of infectious disease control, mostly driven by their own security interests. In the past, global health was only seen in the context of foreign policy, but not intimately connected to health and security nexus.
Global health security is currently high on the international political agenda. The increasing political importance of global health security and the consideration of this topic on the international stage is long overdue. Moreover, it tends to neglect the obligations of broad transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary interpretation of global health security policy. In fact, there is a large discrepancy between the current state of knowledge and global health security practice. At the moment, the dialogue between global health and security has not flowed seamlessly or naturally. There are a number of reasons for this, global health specialists prefer to define their field as scientific, objective, and apolitical, seeing politics as an unnecessary distraction that subjects science to political interests. On the other hand, understanding global health requires complex professional knowledge. This makes it harder for non-specialists such as political and security analysts or academics to gain good working knowledge and a proficient insight of the subject matter adequate for an rational assessment of the politics of the pitch.
Nevertheless, the pandemic terror caused by the CoVID-19 is a political problem as much as it is a global health catastrophe. In the emerging disease world view the current health infrastructure is seen as incapable of addressing the threat posed by emerging and re-emerging diseases in a globalized world. Similarly, two narratives have developed representing different opinions of how this problem should be addressed. Global health security approaches are focused on preparedness practices and building capacity for the surveillance and containment of potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks. Humanitarian biomedicine however advocates developmental efforts to provide sufficient health infrastructure to lessen the burden of disease. Advocates of these approaches argue that the crisis is not disease emergence but the political and technical failure that led to the collapse of health infrastructure in the first place.
Analytically, the CoVID-19 crisis exposed the weaknesses of global health system and indeed, the negligence. This neglect is in part of a consequence of the lack of international priority given to strengthening capacities to manage outbreak events, and a reflection of a global health security regime. In order to bring all the global stakeholders on a common platform to fight against any possible global pandemic terror, the nation-states, should come together united for a common goal of ensuring a safer world, which is also the goal of global health security. Consequently, investing in and improving health security will advance collective development, social justice, and human security. Similarly, building bridges between health and security policy, and between countries, going beyond geopolitical obstacles, is the thrust of global health security, which is again an essential strategy to overcome pandemic terror. Yet, to reap the benefits of concept of global health security, scientific research community, global health policymakers and security shareholders must commit to collaborative engagement and commitment for the global development, including supporting the global health security approach in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To be brief, CoVID-19 has brought both challenges and opportunities, and it is critical to step ahead collectively in this multipolar world with a shared target of ensuring a safer planet. There will be new deadly diseases and other major global health crises. Today, we should hold the similar hope that as we are combating to defeat the CoVID-19 pandemic. We also need to build a robust global health security architecture that will safeguard future generations. Building such architecture cannot be accomplished alone. No single government or multilateral agency can address pandemic terror alone. To achieve this, we must first ensure that we have learnt the lessons from the CoVID-19 pandemic and CoVID-19 has exploited our weaknesses and divisions. Second, pandemic preparedness needs global health security leadership, strong global health system with robust detection, response and prevention capabilities, including sustainable research & development for new vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. Thus, the politics of global health security is the only powerful tool that must be used for unifying and in building a safer and interconnected world.
