biological weapons represents a
major threat to the United States.‖
Moreover, if various diseases like
HIV/AIDS spread in state‘s different
sectors such as administration and
defence, then societally as well as
militarily a state‘s security is obliged
to weaken. As a result, at one hand
possibility of becoming ‗failed states‘
increases and the likelihood of using
the territory by terrorist and criminal
increases on the other. So, the issue
of health demands crucial attention
from a different perspective.
Why it was not count as a security
issue?
After the Second World War the
West regarded health as a
development issue rather than a
security issue. This was due to two
main reasons:
1. Health was presented as a human
rights rather than a security
issue. The establishment of
World Health Organization
(WHO) in 1948 and WHO‘s
―Health for All‖ initiative‖.
2. At this time there was a
perception
that
infectious
29
Why count as a security issue?
As there are many differences among
states regarding economic power,
resource abundance or military
capabilities, now states try to excel in
the achievement of technological
superiority rather than achieving
military supremacy. Similarly terrorist
groups have sought to spread their
cause by adopting violent means to
threaten the public health rather than
adopting armed means. On the
morning of March 20, 1995, five
members of the Japanese radical cult
Aum Shinrikyo boarded subway
trains in Tokyo. Each of them carried
two sealed containers of dilute sarin
nerve gas, a sharpened umbrella to
puncture the containers. They
punctured the containers and the gas
leaked into the train and the subway
station. By the time help arrived, the
nerve gas killed 12 people and some
5500 were injured with some among
them suffering from permanent
neurological damage. In 2005 CIA
reported in the annual report that,
―………a terrorist attack using
Page
public health or departments like
foreign affairs, defence should also
pay attention to this issue? All the
answers of these questions reflect
contesting point of views and this is
why it is very much crucial to shed
new light on the concern of health
and infectious diseases.