Looking beyond the national interest: reconstructing the debate on health and foreign policy

Current international instability has promoted health to the foreign and security policy agenda; however, health is narrowly conceived in terms of promoting the national interest and defending the state, particularly from the risks of infectious disease and bioterrorism. This development involves the risk of global health being co-opted into an international agenda that focuses narrowly on security concerns rather than on broader global health issues. An alternative construction places greater emphasis on shared humanitarian values in a globalised world. This offers a more equal relationship between health and foreign policy and allows a broader range of issues (eg, trade in goods and services affecting health) to be considered in bringing together global health and foreign and security policy.