The context in which countries differ their capability response to an outbreak is highly dictated by the global health system rules which place millions of civilians in the global south countries already trapped in ongoing political unrests and economic hardships, in vulnerabilities through which their inability to respond, poses a global security threat.

Samantha Lee shares her research findings and analysis of global health as it relates to security and international development. During the discussions we hold, her concerns are mostly around policy designs and governance in global health with a focus on the impacts of such decisions made at the top, to the people on the ground who are in constant need of accessible vaccines, testing kits, and locally applicable containment measures. Her arguments advocate for prevention as the best and cheapest solution for a global health crisis.

Links for more information on the data we used and a few extra relevant for the Global Health discussions:

Episode Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash


Fisher DA, Carson G, on behalf of the GOARN Steering Committee. Back to basics: the outbreak response pillars. Lancet 2020; published online August 17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31760-8.

²Michaud, J., Moss, K., & Kates, J. (2021, May 21). The U.S. Government and Global Health Security. KFF. https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/issue-brief/the-u-s-government-and-global-health-security/

³Broad, W. J. (2020). Putin’s Long War Against American Science. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/science/putin-russia-disinformation-health-coronavirus.html

⁴Howard, A. (2020). The Pandemic and America’s Response to Future Bioweapons. https://warontherocks.com/2020/05/the-pandemic-and-americas-response-to-future-bioweapons/

⁵Das, K. N. (2021). India could ship vaccines to COVAX in a few weeks, say sources. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-could-ship-vaccines-covax-few-weeks-say-sources-2021-11-09/

⁶Gostin LO, Halabi SF, Klock KA. An International Agreement on Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness. JAMA. 2021;326(13):1257–1258. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.16104

Worldometers.info (November 23, 2021) Coronavirus Cases. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/