PD 13 - A Comprehensive Approach to Global Health and Security

West Africa’s Ebola pandemic five years ago taught the international community an important lesson in dos and don’ts of comprehensive health crisis management. It became clear that health crises encompass a security dimension – especially in fragile contexts, an upcoming health crisis can destabilize a country or a whole region. Assuming its responsibility in preventing and resolving health crises, Germany has been revising and adapting its health crises management ever since.

Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo is an example of the new challenges we are facing - a complex set of actors in a conflict situation, a variety of militias and armed groups with very different interests.

In the light of the current Ebola outbreak, the panelists will discuss German health crises management from their different perspectives. How are the humanitarian aid response and the security sector intertwined? What are the challenges NGOs / IOs [depending on panelist] are facing on the ground? What is the role and interest of different actors?

Nowadays it is with no doubt, that such complex emergencies demand comprehensive crises management – in assessment, evaluation and implementation. But when it comes to concrete action, what are the limits of a comprehensive approach towards health crises? How to interact with different actors?

The panel aims at raising awareness for the security dimension of health crises/ disease outbreaks in fragile contexts and seeks to improve the understanding for different perspectives on comprehensive health crises response and preparedness.