Abstract
Health security is an integral part of national security, which has become increasingly important in recent years. It is a concept that implies the application of various measures and procedures in order to prevent or mitigate public health emergences and ensure the health of the population. The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the level of Western Balkans capacities and capabilities to prevent, detect, and quickly respond to public health emergencies. The aim is to identify critical factors for improving the health security conditions of each country in the Western Balkans. The analysis is based on the methodology for measuring the Global Health Security Index, applied by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The research is conducted through a comparative analysis and a benchmarking method. The conclusions indicate a low level of health security conditions in the Western Balkans compared to the selected European countries.
TopIntroduction
Public health has become one of the most relevant issues for theorists and practitioners in recent times. Their common conclusion suggests that neglecting public health can have long-term negative consequences for health, the economy, and society as a whole. The reason stems from its role in the process of disease prevention, health promotion, and prolonging the life of the overall population. Therefore, developing and improving an efficient health security system will be one of the main priority goals for different jurisdictions around the world in the future.
Globalization process had led to a high degree of interdependence between countries in almost all aspects of living and working. The negative side of such a degree of global interdependence is reflected, among other things, in the rapid and easy transmission of epidemics and infectious diseases. Consequently, any epidemic that occurs in a particular community can very easily escalate into an international and even global health crisis. One of the most recent crisis with such proportions is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown all the dimensions and consequences of its rapid spread from China to the whole world.
The COVID-19 pandemic indicated the importance of state capabilities to prevent, detect, and quickly respond to public health emergencies around the world. Countries with a developed health system, capable to respond to such threats, have a huge advantage in reducing its negative health, social, and economic consequences. However, considering the fact that pandemics such as COVID-19 do not recognize the physical borders, effective global protection against such infectious diseases implies the improvement of defense capabilities in all countries around the globe. It requires multi-country (or even all-country) policy response and formulation of internationally acceptable standards of preparedness for infectious diseases.
The need to establish international cooperation and strengthen multilateral institutions in order to improve global surveillance and early warning capabilities, but also the rapid implementation of control and containment measures against the global pandemic threat was highlighted in the US 2010 National Security Strategy (The White House, 2010). Recognizing that the health of the world’s population has never been more interdependent, the process of constantly improving health security in all countries around the world is becoming an imperative of modern life. However, the effective improvement of health security conditions in any country implies an adequate database on the state of various factors that determine the health security of the nation.
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the state of health security conditions in the Western Balkans, but also to identify the opportunities for its improvement in the coming period. The ambition is realized through benchmarking of the health security determinants in the Western Balkans with developed European countries. The results of the benchmarking method point out the national health security factors that the Western Balkans need to improve in order to upgrade its capabilities to respond in public health emergencies and reduce the gap with developed European countries. It will also indicate the time priority of its improvement. This provides a good basis for identifying key directions for financing the health systems of the Western Balkans in the future. Therefore, the conclusions of this research can serve as a framework for policy makers in all Western Balkan countries to improve its preparedness for possible new pandemics such as COVID-19.
The chapter contains five separate segments. The first segment deals with the theoretical background and review of the literature on health security. Research methodology and database are defined in the second segment of the chapter. The results of the research are presented and discussed in the third segment entitled “Benchmarking of Health Security in the Western Balkans”. Fourth segment considers the solutions and recommendations for improving health security conditions in the observed countries. The last segment provides a discussion of the overall coverage of the chapter and summarizes the concluding remarks.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Benchmarking: The process of comparing the results and performance metrics of countries within a given area, with the aim of understanding how and where they need to change in order to improve their performance.
It originated as a project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: and was developed with The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Global Health Security Index: A comprehensive measure showing the level of national preparedness to prevent and mitigate public health emergencies such as epidemics and pandemics.
Health Expenditure: The amount that public funds (state, regional, and local government bodies) spent on healthcare.
Western Balkans: A geographic region in Southeastern Europe that includes the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Health System: ?he organization of people, institutions, and resources in the national economy that protect and improve the health of the population.
Pandemic: An epidemic of an infection disease that is spreading across many countries and/or continents and affecting a significant number of people.
Health Security: The capacities and capabilities of the national health system required to eliminate or minimize the danger and impact of public health emergencies.