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NTS Bulletin

NTS Bulletin May 2014

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A publication of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

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This year is the 20th anniversary of the release of the 1994 United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report, which defined the concept of human security and brought it to international attention. It is thus timely to ask: where is human security today? The following is the fifth part of a series exploring the evolution of the concept and its impact on security thinking and practice.

20 Years of Human Security:
A special focus on health security

By Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)
Singapore

The explicit link between health and security first entered the policy mainstream in the 1946 World Health Organization (WHO) Constitution. Since the WHO’s Health for All movement began in 1977 and the Alma Ata Declaration was signed in 1978, global focus turned to preventive and primary health care from disease-centred and curative interventions.

The emergence of health security

By the 1990s, health security was firmly in the security lexicon as a basic element of human security as found in the 1994 UNDP Human Development Report. It identifies the threats posed to human lives by communicable and non-communicable diseases, and draws a link between health, poverty and inequality – a preventive strategy. Also in 1994, the WHO released ‘Health in Development’ that asserted basic rights and responsibilities needed to maintain, protect and promote better health, well-being and quality of life in line with economic development.

The 2003 Commission on Human Security (CHS) reaffirmed that good health was no longer just an absence of disease but a ‘state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.’ As such, alongside global infectious diseases, poverty-related issues also threaten the health security of states and societies.

A comprehensive way forward

In the same year the CHS released its report, the first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was reported, which along with avian influenza and the novel coronavirus raised global alarm around transnational health threats. The response culminated in the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), enabling states to coordinate, manage and build capacity for international public health emergencies by 2012. However, 109 of 196 signatories sought a two-year extension to the 2012 deadline illustrating a key challenge to implementing global rules.

Presently, non-communicable diseases have reappeared as a central tenet of health security alongside pandemics and empowerment initiatives such as the Providing for Health Initiative (P4H). P4H comprises actors like the WHO and offers support to developing countries to establish universal health coverage and social health protection. Initiatives like this ensure a comprehensive approach to health security.

Core readings

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CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AND NATURAL DISASTERS

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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ENERGY AND HUMAN SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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FOOD SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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HEALTH SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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INTERNAL AND CROSS-BORDER CONFLICT

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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WATER SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

Events & Announcements

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Terms of Use:

You are free to publish this material in its entirety or only in part in your newspapers, wire services, internet-based information networks and newsletters and you may use the information in your radio-TV discussions or as a basis for discussion in different fora, provided full credit is given to the author(s) and the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). Kindly inform the publisher (NTS_Centre@ntu.edu.sg) and provide details of when and where the publication was used.

About the Centre:

The Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, based in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), was inaugurated by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan in May 2008. The Centre maintains research in the fields of Climate Change, Food Security, Energy Security, Health Security, as well as Internal and Cross-border Conflict. It produces policy-relevant analyses aimed at furthering awareness and building capacity to address NTS issues and challenges in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The Centre also provides a platform for scholars and policymakers within and outside Asia to discuss and analyse NTS issues in the region.

The Centre is the Coordinator of the ASEAN-Canada Research Partnership (2012–2015) supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. It also serves as the Secretariat of the initiative.

In 2009, the Centre was chosen by the MacArthur Foundation as a lead institution for its three-year Asia Security Initiative (2009–2012), to develop policy research capacity and recommend policies on the critical security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific. It is also a founding member and the Secretariat for the Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia).

More information on the Centre can be found at www.rsis.edu.sg/nts.


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