Saleem 1

Global Pandemics and Human Security:

Reconceptualization of Global Health, Food and Economic Security

Quratulain Saleem

National Defence University

20th September 2020

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The coronavirus is not the only pandemic that has hit the globe nor is it the

deathliest. While the coronavirus has infected 16,747,268 and claimed the lives of

660593 individuals, the black plague was still the deathliest pandemic claiming the

lives of about 75-200 million. The Justinian pandemic was another deathly plague

claiming the lives of millions of people in the process. However, the coronavirus is a

21st century pandemic and has its own implications. The virus not only affected the

lives of those infected but of everyone across the world. Lockdowns have been

implemented, businesses have been either halted or shut down completely leaving

millions of workers unemployed. Beyond the economic recession are the mostly

ignored mental health problems that have intensified due to the pandemic. Another

issue that the world might face is the advantage the terrorist groups and organisations

might take to further their cause. the virus rocked the world to its core, unveiling the

health sector which was grossly unprepared to handle this plague. Keeping in mind

the history of pandemics the world has faced it is shocking to find the world at a

disadvantage each time. One would come to expect that the 21st century with its latest

and fastest technological developments might be able to effectively cope with the

sudden onslaught. It is important to keep in mind these aspects while studying how

the coronavirus has impacted human security. The important question that arises as

the second wave of COVID-19 begins to surge is that will the paradigm of human

security be reconceptualised due to this pandemic?

The family of coronaviruses are the viruses that spread among the human from

animals and mammals. These infectious diseases have been rarely known to spread to

humans and more rarely so to spread from people to people. However, in the recent

years there has been a shift in this course due to the spread of SARS (emerging in
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2002 infecting 8000 individuals and killing 770 in two years) 1, MERS and COVID-

19. This respiratory disease has affected 55.6 million individuals so far with the

fatality rate higher than 0.1%2. The virus had initially been detected in Wuhan, China

in December with the WHO announcing COVID-19 as a pandemic on 20 march

20203. This is not the first pandemic to hit the world. There have been cases of more

fatal diseases in the world such as the Spanish flu, influenzas (named a s the mother of

all pandemics) and the black plague. What concerns the author is not the number of

pandemic outbreaks in world history but the incompetence of governments to take

swift but sure action in the face of it. it would be an understatement of the century to

claim that the world was grossly unprepared for the pandemic. Not only was the

disease poorly managed to contain its spread but there has been a shortage of supplies

in the hospitals around the world to counter the attack. Although the international

society is trying to cope with this shortage of ventilators, medicines and even basic

protection equipment for the doctors it is shocking to analyse that the world has

always been prepared militarily in case of scruffles with other states. That traditional

concept of security has been highlighted in this regard and past lessons have taught

states to increase military and economic strengths. Why have past lessons not been

heeded in regards to the security of humans? Was human security not as essential to

the world as state security? The conventional security studies so far had been

concerned with the traditional dimension of security; the state. Nonetheless in the

1990’s a new branch of the security studies emerged different from its previous

1
Siti Nurhasanah and Marthen Napang, “COVID-19 As a Non-Traditional Threat to Human Security,” Journal of
Strategic And Global Studies 3, no. 1(2020).

2
Rachael Krishna, “The Infection Fatality Rate for COVID-19 is Higher than 0.1 %,” Full Fact, last modified November
21, 2020, https://fullfact.org/health/toby-young-ifr-tweet/ .
3
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), World Health Organization, last modified November 21, 2020,
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.
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approaches. This branch delineated the traditional scope of state centric orientation of

security towards the security of humans and societies. There have been various new

sectors of human security such as food security, economic security, health security,

environmental security, political security etc. the newest shift in the human security

sector has been from the global pandemic that has rocked the world to its core. The ill

preparedness of the international society in this regard has transformed the human

security domain. States, hopefully, now understand the impact that lack of protection

for humans. For what is a state but an association of individuals? If those individuals

are insecure then the state has failed in its social contract and the state security

becomes irrelevant.

In order to understand how human security has been reconceptualised we first

look into certain aspects of human security most threatened and affected by the

pandemic. The author focuses on the domains of health, food and economic sectors as

these have been hit the hardest in 2020. We further access the before and after COVID

19 relevancy of each domain and analyse how this has changed and is further

evolving. A broad and general view of the world is adopted at large focusing on the

state’s and societies most affected by the pandemic and the response garnered. Further

the author analyses the response of the state and international society and what the

response should have been in order to prevent the current scenario. Additionally, the

possible courses of actions that states can adopt to maximise human security in the

above-mentioned domains are examined.

The phenomenon of COVID-19 is relatively new and however due to its

widely increasing importance and adverse effects multiple sources of literature is

available. Following are some of the literature on human security and COVID-19
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a) Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition: developing

effective policy responses to address the hunger and malnutrition

pandemic (HLPE issues paper)

It focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on food security and addresses the

policy measures require to deal with the outbreak of the pandemic. It establishes the

existing incongruities with in the international food distribution system and food

supply chain and how COVID-19 has acted as a road block for the accomplishment of

sustainable development goals. It then effectively provides policy measures to counter

the threat of COVID-19

b) CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPLICATION ON GLOBAL

ECONOMY OYINLOLA ABODUNRIN

It focuses on the spread of COVID 19 and its impacts on the global economy.

It establishes that the virus has caused a major setback to the global economy and

development. The study then provides for palliative measures that should be I place

for everyone to avoid economic hardships.

In analysing the above two discussions the author is able to draw the

conclusion that even though studies on economic security and food security have been

accomplished there has been no study on the reconceptualization of human security

by keeping in view three aspects oh human security i.e. health security, economic

security and food security

The author uses a qualitative method of research through the data collected

from reliable sources of journals, research papers, and website articles. In addition to

this library research was carried out by the author all the while analysing the

interpreting the data collected to establish whether or not the reconceptualization of

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human security domain has taken place due to COVID-19 by examining three aspects

of human security; health security, food security and economic security.

The concept of health security emerged in 1994. Various forms of health

security then were added to this domain keeping in mind that not all health problems

led to health insecurity. In the current world of globalisation, the spread of pandemics

has become far easier than imaginable as seen from SARS and more recently through

COVID-194. Over the course of the decade health workers and policy makers have

been able to recognise the effects of health crisis on the national regional and global

level. In 1994, UNDP defined health security as protection from diseases and

unhealthy life styles. In 2005. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and

Control (ECDC) was established in order to control the outbreak of SARS.

Nonetheless SARS was unable to reach the global pandemic status of COVID-

195 .The emergence of the feared pandemic has come to pass 6 .The globalised

international world, for the first time in history, is facing the crisis of the pandemic on

such a large scale and the repercussions it has not only on the health sector but all the

sectors of human security, as is common for the global village.

The health care system has been completely transformed due to COVID-19.

The world was unable to cope with the contemporary practices of such a smart and

ever-changing virus on the global scale. The first transformation under way is the

concept of virtualised treatment of patients, obviating the need for in person and

physical contact to control the spread of the infectious disease7. The idea was of

4
Ya Wen Chiu and Yi Hao Weng, “The Nature of International Health Security,” Asia Pacific
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 18, no. 4 (2009): 679-83.

5
Ibid.,680.
6
Ibid.,679.
7
Paul Webster, “Virtual Healthcare in the Era of COVID-19,” The Lancet 395, no. 10231
(2020).
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course transmitted by the Chinese globally to resort to contactless check-ups. This has

resulted in increasing the bed capacity for the more critically ill COVID-19 patients

while also providing health care to people outside the four walls of the hospitals.

COVID-19 has resulted in the recognition that the health sector needs to aligned with

the other industrial sectors to continue their digital advancements.8 States with a

decentralised health care system are incapable of handling the pandemic and need to

develop their infrastructure in order to cope with the rising challenges effectively.

Health care systems also need to break old habits and proactively move from the

phase of crisis management to project management to improve patient care.

Deployable testing kits need to be made and measures should be takes for the second

wave of the virus which is surely to hit the world as the economies reopen.

Additionally, a citizen centric approach should be adopted instead of a system centric

approach which is likely to be ineffective and will not produce the desired results. As

businesses reopen states and institutions need to form their policies around the needs

of the citizens or it will result in another series of deplorable lockdowns worldwide 9.

Hopefully an eventual decrease in cases will occur and it is the prudent for the lessons

learned in the case of health care systems that need to be kept in mind in order to

avoid the problems faced today and to achieve greater economies.

Food security is the availability of adequate food and nutrition and the ability

of all individuals access to it. food availability and security are an important sector of

8
Shenil Ebrahim, “COVID-19: Accelerating the Evolution of Health Sector,” Deloitte Canada,
last modified November 22, 2020,
https://www2.deloitte.com/ca/en/pages/public-sector/articles/accelerating-evolution-of-health-
sector.html.

9
Shenil Ebrahim, “COVID-19: Accelerating the Evolution of Health Sector,” Deloitte Canada,
last modified November 22, 2020,
https://www2.deloitte.com/ca/en/pages/public-sector/articles/accelerating-evolution-of-health-
sector.html.
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human security irrespective of race, culture and status in society. Different individuals

have different sources and accesses to food. Some might have access to inadequate

quantity of food and some might have no access at all. the inability to get the right

food or right amount of food can result in diseases such as cancer, obesity,

malnutrition and diabetes. Various organisations had stepped up in order to reduce

food insecurity by establishing food banks, food pantries and feeding programs to

supply healthy food10.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to various problems in the food security

sector of human security. The repeated series of lockdowns has resulted in declining

economies which has ultimately transformed from a basic necessity of life to a luxury

few can afford. The crashing economies has inevitably decreased the incomes of most

household and simultaneously increased the prices acting as a major hurdle for the

sustainable development program of “zero hunger”11 .According to a report by State

of Food Security and Nutrition report almost two billion people have faced moderate

to severe level of food insecurity. At least 25 countries including Yemen, Lebanon

have been predicted to experience severe food security deterioration and according to

the prediction of world health organisation (WHO) the situation will continue to wane

continuing the cycle for the next year or two 12. The effects of a globalised world have

never been felt as acutely as during economic recession and global pandemic. The

overlapping dynamics have resulted in disrupting food chain supplies, increasing

inequalities and an increasing uncertainty regarding food production which is

predicted to decrease globally depending on the duration and intensity of the

10
“What is Food Insecurity?” Web MD, last modified November 21, 2020,
https://www.webmd.com/diet/food-insecurity.

11
HLPE. 2020. Impacts of COVID-19 onLOCK DOWNS
food security and nutrition: developing effective policy
responses to address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic. Rome.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1000en
12
Ibid.,01.

ECONOMIC
INSECURITY COVID-19 INEQUALITIES
 FOOD INSECURITY/
DECREASE IN FOOD
PRODUCTION/ Saleem 1
DISRUPTED FOOD
SUPPLY

pandemic. The diseases due to food insecurity also increase the risk of being infected

and increasing the mortality rate.

As a result of COVID-19 the way people interacted with food has changed

drastically. The idea of outside dining has been dismantled with the promotion of

drive in or drive throughs. Furthermore, informal food markets such as fruit markets

were dismantled completely because government saw them as a source for the spread

of the virus. Nevertheless, they were reopened after much protests from the general

public because these markets were the main sources of acquiring cheap food for the

poor.

As a result of COVID-19 a need for policy change has been recognised. The

HLPE’s Global Narrative report proposed four urgent policy shifts necessary to

achieve food security and nutrition and secure the right to food13. The first and

foremost is the need to change the food systems as a whole. Secondly to change the

food policies to recognise the overlapping linkages to ensure a more effective

“ecosystem”. Thirdly the need to integrate an understanding of complex interactions

of multiple forms of malnutrition. Finally, a flexible approach should be adopted to

understand the needs of each specific group. Furthermore, investment in a more

sustainable food markets is necessary to overcome the present conditions.

Economic security is defined as a stable source of income or other resources in

order to support a standard of living in the present and the foreseeable future.

Economic security has been linked to happiness according to a study published by the

international labour office (ILO). There are seven aspects of through which economic

13
HLPE. 2020. Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition: developing effective policy
responses to address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic. Rome.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1000en
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security is measured such as income, access to work, representation etc. 14 through a

study of surveys it has been discovered that individuals with high economic security

tended to be happier than the ones who are economically insecure. More important

here is not the amount of the income earned but the security of the next pay check. It

has been revealed by the ILO that only 8% of the world live in conditions that are

favourable economically. Economic insecurity does not only lead to poverty, even

though it is a major determinant of it, it also leads to great stress and ultimately mental

health problems. It has been discovered that there is a higher rate of suicide among the

unemployed.

As with the other aspects of human security COVID-19 has been able to

unmask the economic insecurities that are liable to be felt by all working classes due

to the global effects of a pandemic. Due to lockdowns that have resulted in attempts to

control the spread of the virus many workers have been left to bear the brunt of the

economic insecurity. There was a sharp deterioration of domestic employment due to

COVID-1915. The Financial Times stated that the Global economy faces the sharpest

reversal since the Great Depression. Trade, a major source of income for all sates has

decreased due to complete lock downs that have been implemented. Tourism has

decreased and the world has also seen a sharp decrease in the incomes brough home

by foreign direct investments and remittances16. While the world has seen its fair share

14
“Economic Insecurity is a Global Crisis,” Economic Insecurity is a Global Crisis, last modified
November 21, 2020, https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_075583/
lang--en/index.htm.

15
William Seitz, “Economic and Social Impacts of COVID-19: Updates from the Listening to
Tajikistan Survey,” World Bank, last modified November 21, 2020,
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2020/07/13/economic-and-social-impacts-of-covid-
19-update-from-listening-to-tajikistan
16
Economic and food security implications of the COVID-19 outbreak: An update with
insights from different regions, Relief Web, last modified November 21.2020,
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/economic-and-food-security-implications-covid-19-outbreak-
update-insights-different .
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of economic recessions and subsequent depression it was only the health sector which

survived. People tend to get sick in good or bad times and hence the spindle of

business kept spinning. Although no data has been gathered in such regard but in

order to stop, the spread of virus the public have been advised to steer clear of medical

offices. yet this has resulted in the medical offices feeling the pinch. Without any cash

reserves the medical staff are facing layoffs or salary reductions. However, states like

USA have countered this problem by ensuing the largest relief bill in history of $2

trillion17. Yet this cannot be the case of developing or third would states who will have

to burden themselves with acquiring loans from international institutions in order to

help the ever-increasing unemployed population. Even re-opening the economy will

not result in it finding its footing again. This is because people will remain reluctant to

exposure henceforth it is necessary to address the health risks first. This aspect of

economic security is also linked with food security because unemployment or reduced

wages could result in the breadwinner’s inability to put food on the table for his/her

family. This will eventually lead to poverty for most people since the little to no pay

would have them dipping their hands into their savings and eventually, they will

exhaust this temporary relief as well.

The virus has been an unveiling factor on many of the world’s discrepancies.

In this regard it has also highlighted the unpreparedness of the global state community

in regards to COVID 19 and the importance of the roles of states and institutions in

containing the virus and their irreplaceably roles of protecting humanity against

suffering and death. The role of UN has been impressive. UN called for a stop to all

armed conflicts to divert attention to the global pandemic and a $2 billion global

17
Cutler David, “How Will COVID-19 Affect the Health Care Economy?” JAMA Health Forum
9(2020).
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humanitarian response plan to combat the disease especially in vulnerable states18. It

was predicted that the COVID-19 could result in disturbing global peace and security

as it led to political and social unrest. However, states like USA and China, with their

delayed responses and president Donald Trumps halting of WHO’s funding

demonstrated clearly the politicisation of the pandemic.

The pandemic poses a threat to the socio-economic factors of human security.

It has been estimated that developing countries are likely to suffer an estimated loss of

$220 billion and hence the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

(UNCTAD) has called for the cancellation of debts special drawing rights and grants

resulting in a total of $2.5 trillion concession to cushion such states 19. Due to COVID-

19, international trade suffered a slump affecting international travel, agriculture and

manufacturing sectors. The most vulnerable population at this time is the displaced

population of 70 million refugees who are suffering a humanitarian crisis along with

rise in the viral cases.

In essence COVID-19 has been able to reconceptualise various aspects of

human security. Previously regarded as a soft indicator, now it is regarded as equal

importance to the traditional conception of security. This is because although state

security might be important it is not above and beyond the individual. If states had

continued to assert a state centric approach in response to the spread of COVID-19, as

they initially had and they are suffering the worst for it, we might have been seeing

worse circumstances than we are right now. COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated that

18
Muema Wambua, “COVID-19, Human Security Crisis, and the Responsibility to Protect,”
Kujenga Amani, last modified November 21, 2020, https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2020/09/03/covid-
19-human-security-crisis-and-the-responsibility-to-protect .

19
Muema Wambua, “COVID-19, Human Security Crisis, and the Responsibility to Protect,” Kujenga
Amani, last modified November 21, 2020, https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2020/09/03/covid-19-human-security-
crisis-and-the-responsibility-to-protect .
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the importance of human security has increased greatly with the process of

globalisation. Not only is thus pandemic a humanitarian crisis, it has also significantly

damaged state stability and economy. It has been effectuated by the above-mentioned

aspects of human security i.e. food, health and economic security that these sectors are

overlapping phenomenon. A lesson thus learned from tis pandemic is the necessity of

establishment of “ecosystems”. Ecosystems is defined as the geographic area in which

all living and non-living organisms work together to form an efficient bubble of life. It

is no doubt that the world has been globalised. The inability of some states and

institutions to control this outbreak was due to their lack of conscious to recognise this

globalisation and realise that each specific sector can not function on its own rather an

ecosystem of interdependent organisms that need to work together for efficiency ad

desirable results. The economic sector of human security is closely linked to food

security and health as seen in the current case of pandemic. Thus, the wise course of

action would be to formulate policies that would work well together rather than

working independently.

To put it briefly, COVID-19 has taken the contemporary world by it horns and

in doing so has transformed the original though process of traditional security still

prevalent in the society to non-traditional aspect of human security. The

reconceptualization process occurring due to this pandemic can be seen in three

sectors of human security namely; health security, food security and economic

security. Within the health security the most important transformation is the use of

digital technology and establishment of “virtual hospitals” to defeat the need of in

hospital check-ups. With in food security a complex interlinking relationship has been

analysed from COVID 19 resulting lock downs to food insecurity, disturbances in

food chain, inequalities etc. the economic sector is within the throes of moving
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towards an economic recession with the brunt of economic incongruencies being

borne by the working class, the improvised and, the refugees and the displaced. The

response this globalised disease would be a joint set of policies by forming

“ecosystems”. These are only conclusions drawn by the contemporary scenarios. It is

plausible that the situation might change drastically in the future. Yet one thing is for

sure: the concept of human security will not be the same as pre-COVID-19.