Strategic implications of global health

About this book

"Strategic Implications of Global Health responds to a request from the Undersecretary of State for Democratization and Global Affairs for an intelligence assessment on the connections between health and US national interests. This study builds on a 2000 NIE, The Global Infectious Disease Threat and its Implications for the United States, a pioneering Intelligence Community effort to identify infectious disease as an intelligence issue. This study diverges from that paper, however, in that it: Expands the field of inquiry to fully encompass all aspects of global health--including maternal mortality, malnutrition, chronic diseases and other relevant non-infectious health issues. While these may not represent direct threats to US interests in the way that acute infections do, these health determinants can also have wide-ranging--if more slow-moving and subtle--impacts on the global scene. Places a greater focus on the strategic impacts of global health, with minimal discussion of disease pathologies. This discussion is based in part on case studies of countries in the developing, communist, and post-communist worlds that illustrate the nexus between health and other strategic issues.".