ABSTRACT

Security is now a central dimension of the global governance of health. Explicit articulations of the health–security nexus can be traced back to the post-WWII period when the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) presented health as a basic principle of the “security of all peoples” (Harman 2011: 20). Nonetheless, recent years have witnessed a new sense of urgency to the connection between health and security. The United States of America has a National Health Security Strategy (United States Department of Health and Human Services 2009) based upon the assumption of an “interdependent relationship between national security, homeland security, and national health security.” The European Commission has its own Health Security Committee, equipped with “mechanisms and tools for Europe-wide coordination of prevention, preparedness and response to health security threats” (Commission of the European Communities 2009: 3). The WHO is now part of a Global Health Security Initiative aimed at strengthening preparedness and response to threats of biological, chemical, radio-nuclear terrorism, and pandemic influenza.