When Health Diplomacy Serves Foreign Policy: Use of Soft Power to Quell Conflict and Crises

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 724-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasim Sadat Hosseini Divkolaye ◽  
Mohammad Hadi Radfar ◽  
Fariba Seighali ◽  
Frederick M. Burkle
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Health Diplomacy ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Training

AbstractObjectiveHealth diplomacy has increasingly become a crucial element in forging political neutrality and conflict resolution and the World Health Organization has strongly encouraged its use. Global turmoil has heightened, especially in the Middle East, and with it, political, religious, and cultural differences have become major reasons to incite crises.MethodsThe authors cite the example of the human stampede and the deaths of over 2000 pilgrims during the 2015 annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca.ResultsThe resulting political conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia had the potential to escalate into a more severe political and military crisis had it not been for the ministers of health from both countries successfully exercising “soft power” options.ConclusionGlobal health security demands critical health diplomacy skills and training for all health providers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 4)

Global impact of antimicrobial resistance

2019 ◽  
pp. 569-576
Author(s):  
Catherine Berry
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Global Impact ◽  
The World ◽  
Resistant Infection ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

This chapter describes the worrisome trend of resistance development in antibacterial agents with exponential increases in resistance to the most effective classes of antibiotics. Described by the World Health Organization as a major global health security threat, the annual deaths from drug-resistant infection are projected to increase from 700,000 to 10 million by 2050. This chapter outlines the impact of antimicrobial resistance in humanitarian settings and provides practical approaches which can be used by organizations and health providers.

scholarly journals Chemical threats in the EU Health Security Programme

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Chemical Threats ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Eu

All projected tasks for the European Commission’s Task Force for Biological and Chemical Attacks (http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph/programmes/bio-terrorism/index_en.html) take both biological and chemical threats into account. The Task Force experts have compiled information from a series of valid lists of toxic threats, from bodies including the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Australia Group* (AG), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and others. A list of suspicious chemicals and toxins is being finalised by the Task Force, working with their counterparts in the Global Health Security Initiative of the G7+ countries (1).

scholarly journals COVID-19, the UN, and Dispersed Global Health Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-378
Author(s):  
Sophie Harman
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Epistemic Communities ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Looking Back

AbstractThe response to COVID-19 demonstrates an inclusive and dispersed form of global health security that is less reliant on the UN Security Council or the World Health Organization (WHO). While WHO remains central to fighting the pandemic, the dispersed global health security addressing the crisis is inclusive of the wider UN system, civil society, and epistemic communities in global health. As part of the special issue on “The United Nations at Seventy-Five: Looking Back to Look Forward,” this essay argues that instead of facing crisis or criticism like WHO, this inclusive and dispersed form of global health security provides mechanisms of resilience and support to the UN at the height of global political tensions surrounding COVID-19.

scholarly journals The need for health diplomacy in health security operations

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-163
Author(s):  
Vijay Kumar Chattu ◽  
Sebastian Kevany
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Health Diplomacy ◽  
Concept Of Health ◽  
Security Operations ◽  
Health Organization

The concept of health security involves the intersection of several fields and disciplines and is an inherently political and sensitive area. It is also a relatively a new field of study and practice which lacks a precise definition - though numerous disciplines and areas like foreign policy, national interests, trade interests, health security, disaster relief, and human rights contribute to the concept. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for, health diplomacy in improving health security. For example, it is not unusual for developing country societies to build their health security measures by restricting travel and movement of those emanating from affected areas. When extreme health security measures threaten cordial and cooperative relations between nations, the issue of protection of one country’s population may lead to the risk of international conflict. As the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 2007 that ‘functioning health systems are the bedrock of health security,’ it is crucial that partners with sound financial and technical capacities benefit developing countries through their assistance and sharing information. This paper explores how health diplomacy holds great promise to address the needs of global health security through binding or nonbinding instruments, enforced by global governance mechanisms.

scholarly journals WHO’s response to the threat of deliberate releases of chemical and biological agents

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (37) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Harling
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Biological Agents ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Emergency Plans ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
International Initiative

Following the deliberate releases of anthrax in the United States last autumn, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified a need to review existing emergency plans and implement further actions to allow member states, WHO and other international organisations to prevent, prepare for and respond to deliberate releases of chemical and biological agents (1). Previous WHO guidance on the threat of bioterrorism, specific activities at European Union level, and the coordinated international initiative to improve global health security, have been described in Eurosurveillance Weekly (2-5).

Dengue research and training supported through the World Health Organization

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (sup1) ◽  
pp. 97-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kroeger ◽  
M. B. Nathan ◽  
J. Hombach ◽  
R. Dayal-Drager ◽  
M. W. Weber
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Training

scholarly journals SARS: Political Pathology of the First Post-Westphalian Pathogen

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Fidler
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Health Organization

In March 2003, the world discovered, again, that I humanity's battle with infectious diseases continues. The twenty-first century began with infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, being discussed as threats to human rights, economic development, and national security. Bioterrorism in the United States in October 2001 increased concerns about pathogenic microbes. The global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the spring of 2003 kept the global infectious disease challenge at the forefront of world news for weeks. At its May 2003 annual meeting, the World Health organization (WHO) asserted that SARS is “the first severe infectious disease to emerge in the twenty-first century” and “poses a serious threat to global health security, the livelihood of populations, the functioning of health systems, and the stability and growth of economies.”

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