Global Health Governance, Human Rights, and the Control of Infectious Diseases: A Case of the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

Background

Historically, diseases have been conferred the status of threats both to national security and national interest of states. The typhus during the Peloponnesian war, plaque in the Byzantine Roman empire, the bubonic plague of the 14th century and the cholera outbreak of 1800s, the pandemic influenza (amongst others) were responsible not only for the death of many populations across borders but were a threat to the economic and political interests of the state. Infections (especially in the case of epidemics) share features with war and can even be more dangerous as they affect combatants and civilians alike. Hence it is accepted that health outcomes transcend the biological space comprising of the individual and his body (McInnes & Lee, 2012:11). Also, health at the macro level compasses determinants like health services, income, social status, gender, education, cultural factors, working conditions, employment, social and physical environments amongst other factors. Fundamentally, the state of health and the health of the state are mutually inclusive and interdependent and the precincts between the two levels are blurring. Hence health holds an important place in interstate politics and on the international agenda (Lamy & Phua, 2012: 9). Infectious disease and health issues are leaving the confined space of national borders and often ride on the wings of globalization to increase their frequency, speed and effect. Consequently, the distinction between the global sphere and the domestic with regards to health issues (amongst others) is losing utility.