Which Global Health Issues Achieve Foreign Policy Priority?
Health issues have traditionally resided in a “low politics” position in foreign policy practice, but in recent years, certain health issues have received political attention at the highest levels of national and international politics [11],[12]. The threats from bioterrorism, infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS, SARS, XDR-TB, avian influenza A (H5N1), and pandemic influenza A (H1N1), and an increasing awareness of the link between health and economic development [13],[14] have each played a role in linking health to the traditional foreign policy goals of protecting state security and promoting national economic interests. The perception that major disease burdens can contribute to the weakening of state capacity and the destabilization of states has connected with growing concerns about the threat of weak and failed states [15],[16]. Similarly, the need to rebuild health systems in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other conflict and post-conflict areas as a part of counterinsurgency and na
