A landscape planning agenda for global health security: Learning from the history of HIV/AIDS and pandemic influenza

Given the volume of research and discussion on the health, medical, economic, financial, political, and travel advisory aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, it is essential to enquire if an outbreak of the epidemic might have been anticipated, given the well-documented history of SARS and MERS, among other infectious diseases. If various issues directly related to health security risks could have been predicted accurately, public health and medical contingency plans might have been prepared and activated in advance of an epidemic such as COVID-19. This paper evaluates an important source of health security, the Global Health Security Index (2019), which provided data before the discovery of COVID-19 in December 2019. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate how countries might have been prepared for a global epidemic, or pandemic, and acted accordingly in an effective and timely manner. The GHS index numerical scores are calculated as the arithmetic (AM), geometric (GM), and harmonic (HM) means of six categories, where AM uses equal weights for each category. The GHS Index scores are regressed on the numerical score rankings of the six categories to check if the use of equal weights of 0.167 in the calculation of the GHS Index using AM is justified, with GM and HM providing a check of the robustness of the arithmetic mean. The highest weights are determined to be around 0.244–0.246, while the lowest weights are around 0.186–0.187 for AM. The ordinal GHS Index is regressed on the ordinal rankings of the six categories to check for the optimal weights in the calculation of the ordinal Global Health Security (GHS) Index, where the highest weight is 0.368, while the lowest is 0.142, so the estimated results are wider apart than for the numerical score rankings. Overall, Rapid Response and Detection and Reporting have the largest impacts on the GHS Index score, whereas Risk Environment and Prevention have the smallest effects. The quantitative and qualitative results are different when GM and HM are used.

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Prioritization strategies for pandemic influenza vaccine in 27 countries of the European Union and the Global Health Security Action Group: a review

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/1471-2458-7-236 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Masja Straetemans ◽

Udo Buchholz ◽

Sabine Reiter ◽

Walter Haas ◽

Gérard Krause

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Global Health ◽

Influenza Vaccine ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

The European Union ◽

Global Health Security ◽

Health Security ◽

Action Group ◽

Group A

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The Chronicle of a Disease Foretold: Pandemic H1N1 and the Construction of a Global Health Security Threat

Political Studies ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00925.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 797-812 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Thomas Abraham

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Global Health ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Influenza Pandemic ◽

The United States ◽

Global Health Security ◽

Security Threat ◽

Health Security ◽

The Impact

The period beginning in 2004 saw an extraordinary spurt in attention paid to avian and pandemic influenza in the United States and at the global level. A disease that for decades had languished in the ‘dull but worthy’ category of infectious diseases was elevated to a risk to global health security. The securitisation of influenza was not unproblematic. The influenza pandemic of 2009 turned out to be far milder than anticipated, and much of the scientific basis on which planning had proceeded and resources had been mobilised turned out to be wrong. Developing countries with other disease priorities were urged to pour resources into pandemic planning exercises and change poultry-raising practices. The article argues that for an issue to be securitised as a global health threat, it is essential that the United States takes the lead role (or at the very least supports efforts by other leading powers). It uses the Copenhagen School's analysis to examine how avian and pandemic influenza was securitised in the United States, and then uses the concept of framing to examine why this disease was securitised by looking at the prior existence of an issue culture or discourse around emerging infectious diseases, which gained salience after the 2011 anthrax attacks. It finally looks at the impact of securitisation on countries with different priorities.

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Cuba y seguridad sanitaria mundial: Cuba’s role in global health security

BMJ Global Health ◽

10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002227 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

pp. e002227 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Clare Wenham ◽

Sonja K Kittelsen

Keyword(s):

Global Health ◽

Health System ◽

Disease Control ◽

Resource Constraints ◽

Crisis Response ◽

Global Health Security ◽

Health Security ◽

Universal Healthcare ◽

Social Controls ◽

History Of

Cuba has been largely absent in academic and policy discourse on global health security, yet Cuba’s history of medical internationalism and its domestic health system have much to offer contemporary global health security debates. In this paper, we examine what we identify as key traits of Cuban health security, as they play out on both international and domestic fronts. We argue that Cuba demonstrates a strong health security capacity, both in terms of its health systems support and crisis response activities internationally, and its domestic disease control activities rooted in an integrated health system with a focus on universal healthcare. Health security in Cuba, however, also faces challenges. These concern Cuba’s visibility and participation in the broader global health security architecture, the social controls exercised by the state in managing disease threats in Cuban territory, and the resource constraints facing the island—in particular, the effects of the US embargo. While Cuba does not frame its disease control activities within the discourse of health security, we argue that the Cuban case demonstrates that it is possible to make strides to improve capacity for health security in resource-constrained settings. The successes and challenges facing health security in Cuba, moreover, provide points of reflection relevant to the pursuit of health security globally and are thus worth further consideration in broader health security discussions.

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China and the global search for health security: history, vaccines, and governance

China International Strategy Review ◽

10.1007/s42533-021-00066-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daojiong Zha

Keyword(s):

Global Health ◽

Final Section ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Global Search ◽

Effective Control ◽

Past Century ◽

Health Governance ◽

Health Security ◽

Core Elements ◽

History Of

AbstractChina is a key player, not just an actor, in the global search for health security. Reiteration of this point is useful for International Relations studies, which often portray China as a factor to contend with, especially given the background of the country as the first to report the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper adopts an analytical framework developed through a summary of routines in Chinese engagement in global health from a practitioner’s perspective: aid, interdependence, governance and knowledge. These are the core elements in a country’s pursuit of engagement with the rest of the world. After the introduction, the second section of the paper reviews contributions from China in the history of global plague control over the past century. The third section discusses structural issues affecting access to vaccines, which are essential for bringing COVID-19 under effective control. The fourth section identifies a number of challenges China is facing in global health governance. The final section offers a few concluding thoughts, reiterating the nature of interdependence in the global search for enhancement of health security.

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An evaluation of the global health security agenda steering group governance interventions

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.174 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

N E DeShore ◽

J A Johnson ◽

P Malone ◽

R Greenhill ◽

W Wuenstal

Keyword(s):

Global Health ◽

Health System ◽

System Performance ◽

Health System Performance ◽

Global Health Security ◽

Member States ◽

Health Security ◽

Governance Indicators ◽

Positive Effect ◽

Global Health Security Agenda

Abstract Background Member States lack of compliance with 2005 IHR implementation led to the launched of the Global Health Security Agenda. This research will provide an understanding of how the Global Health Security Agenda Steering Group (GHSA SG) governance interventions impact health system performance and global health security. This will enhance the understanding of a Steering Group's governance interventions in complex Global Health initiatives. Research questions: To what extent have GHSA SG governance interventions contributed towards enabling health system performance of WHO Member States? To what extent have GHSA SG governance interventions contributed towards the implementation of global health security among WHO Member States? Methods Correlational analysis using Spearman's rho examined the relationship between governance, health system performance and global health security variables at one point in time. A convenience non-probability sample consisting of eight WHO Member States was used. SPSS Statistics generated the bivariate correlation analyzes. Results Governance and health system performance analysis indicated a statistically significant strong positive effect size in 11 out of 18 and moderate positive effect size in the remaining seven out of 18 health system performance indicators. Governance and global health security analysis concluded three of the governance indicators had strong and moderate positive coefficients. Global health security variables demonstrated weak effects in the remaining three governance indicators. Conclusions This study presents a case for health systems embedding in global health security. Health system performance is only as effective at protecting populations when countries achieve core capacities of preparedness and response to global health threats. The associations provide stakeholders information about key characteristics of governance that influence health system performance and global health security implementation. Key messages This study provides an argument for the continued support of the GHSA 2024 Framework with implementation of global health security capabilities and meeting 2005 IHR requirements. The GHSA SG governance role remains profoundly important in establishing sustainable efforts internationally towards achieving the objectives of the GHSA in support of the 2005 IHR standards.

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