Chapter 22 - Science and political leadership in global health security

Abstract

Health is a political choice. Politics is about access to and leveraging power to achieve a shared vision. The political leadership needs to appreciate the challenges and apply scientific knowledge in managing health emergencies including the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific knowledge deployed to achieve global health security requires population-wide application and mutidimensional response. The interdependency between science and political leadership offers opportunities for resolving conflicting priorities. Of particular concern is the risk of manipulating rapidly evolving scientific knowledge to address the needs of interest group. In this chapter, we highlight the perspectives of scientific and political leaders by examining the interface between science and politics. We explore how these differences can affect the application of scientific solutions at the population level. Challenges in the application of evidence-based global health security instruments such as International Health Regulations include political expediency. We identify challenges and opportunities to improve alignment between scientific and political leadership and build collaborative partnerships in health emergency security measures is retained.