Does health securitization affect the role of global surgery?

Area of Science:

• Global Health Security
• Health Policy
• Surgical Care Access

Background:

• Outbreaks of infectious diseases increasingly dominate global health security agendas.
• Resource allocation for health emergencies often sidelines non-communicable conditions like surgical diseases.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the competition for attention and resources in global health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explain the structural underpinnings of global surgical care deficits.
• To analyze the securitization potential of surgical versus infectious diseases.
• To assess the risk of global surgery being deprioritized in health security contexts.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the constructivist concept of securitization (Copenhagen School).
• Investigated the comparative securitizing potential of surgical conditions and infectious diseases.
• Examined the role of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) in health securitization.

Main Results:

• Surgical conditions are non-contagious, not prone to outbreaks, and difficult to prevent, resulting in low securitizing potential.
• Infectious diseases benefit from a privileged role in health security, particularly through the PHEIC designation.
• Surgery's inherent characteristics limit its ability to be framed as an urgent security threat.

Conclusions:

• Surgery possesses substantially lower securitizing potential than communicable diseases.
• Global surgery is structurally disadvantaged within a health security framework.
• This inferior positioning risks hindering access to essential surgical interventions worldwide.