HP412      Half Unit
Global Health Security

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Global health security has become a dominant paradigm in global health. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19, Ebola, Zika and pandemic influenza have heightened the global sense of vulnerability to the spread of infectious disease, and as a consequence global health policy is now complete with references to such health emergencies. These threats are even listed on national security strategies of many governments, and as such we see the ever increasing link between security and health across policy areas and levels. As we have all witnessed, COVID-19 has affected every part of the world, and every part of socio-economic life as we know it. Thus, we must understand how this has happened, and what we can do to prevent the next outbreak, and mitigate against future downstream effects of pandemics.
This course interrogates this health-security nexus. It considers different conceptual understandings of security including global health security, national security, biosecurity and human security and considers these in multiple health contexts. These empirical explorations include COVID-19, Ebola, Zika, Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and conflict and health. Yet, this course also asks students to consider the assumptions inherent to the security discourse, and the challenges these has on global health policymaking. Should the global health community be championing global health security, or has the terminology run its course.
To examine these concepts, empirics and broader political questions, this module will draw on contributions from international relations, political science, law, epidemiology and public health research.

8 hours of seminars and 14 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Seminars will be led by a small group of students who will present the key discussion points to their colleagues. Small group work will be undertaken in the seminars to allow for more in-depth discussion and class debate. The half day simulation provide students with a real-life scenario of global health security crises. Activities will aim to bring to life the theories, challenges and politics discussed during the course.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the AT.

Students will submit a short 1000 word essay (on the topic that they are writing on for the summative) during the teaching term. These will be graded and feedback given to students. This allows students to get valuable experience of writing critical essays have they not before in previous modules or degrees, and the expectations of the summative assessment. For example, if a student’s formative work flagged particular concerns this could be addressed ahead of the summative submission.

• McInnes, C., & Lee, K. (2006). Health, foreign policy and security. Rev Int Stud, 32, 5-23.
• Rushton, S. (2011) Global Health Security: Security for Whom? Security for What?, Political Studies 59 (4): 779 -796
• Davies, S. E. (2008). Securitizing infectious disease. International Affairs, 84(2), 295-313.
• Chen, L., & Narasimhan, V. (2003). Human security and global health. Journal of Human Development, 4(2), 181-190.
• Rushton, S., & Youde, J. (Eds.). (2014). Routledge handbook of global health security. Routledge.
• Elbe, S. (2005). AIDS, security, biopolitics. International relations, 19(4), 403-419.
• King, N. B. (2002). Security, disease, commerce: ideologies of postcolonial global health. Social studies of science, 32(5-6), 763-789.
• O’Manique, C. (2005). The “securitisation” of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: a critical feminist lens. Policy and Society, 24(1), 24-47.
• Heymann, D. L., Chen, L., Takemi, K., Fidler, D. P., Tappero, J. W., Thomas, M. J., ... & Kalache, A. (2015). Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic. The Lancet, 385(9980), 1884-1901.
• Ooms, G., Beiersmann, C., Flores, W., Hanefeld, J., Müller, O., Mulumba, M., ... & Jahn, A. (2017). Synergies and tensions between universal health coverage and global health security: why we need a second ‘Maximizing Positive Synergies’ initiative. BMJ global health, 2(1), e000217.

Essay (75%, 3500 words)

Blog post (25%)

1 x 3500 word essay – 75% of grade Students will be asked to pick one essay question. They will be given the option to choose their own essay topic (after discussion with their seminar leader) or to select from a provided list of questions. The questions will be broad, allowing for student individuality to come across in their answers. 1 x Blog post – 25% of grade Students will be assessed on their reflections of the course and any role play activity undertaken.