The Lancet: Offline: Global health security — smart strategy or naive tactics?
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet

“…Is global health intended to improve population health or is it meant to be a diplomatic tool for countries to exert their ‘soft power?’ … The facts show that investments in global health security attract funding because they offer a means of protecting populations in donor countries against the spread of infectious diseases. Global health security is a tool of foreign policy and we should be glad of that. Global health security strengthens public health. It mobilizes financial and technical resources. And it saves lives in all countries by preventing epidemic disease. The unfortunate reality is that humanitarian arguments alone often fail to win the support of politicians. Security arguments change the terms of the political debate. If global health advocates want to deliver on their admirable aspirations, they need to ‘get real'” (3/4).