The United Nations Security Council and health emergencies: introduction

Since 2000, health issues have increasingly been discussed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) without consensus being built on how and when the Council address health topics, or on its role in global health governance. As the contributions in this issue show, high-profile infectious disease outbreaks as well as the disruption of healthcare delivery and assistance in conflict settings have driven the health agenda at UNSC debates, but that agenda has remained ad hoc. Health topics seem most likely to be put on the agenda when the P5 perceive a particular health issue as a threat to international peace and security, or when the social and economic consequences of a health crisis potentially destabilise countries or regions. That raises another political question, however: under what circumstances are they likely to perceive health issues in those terms, and whose interests are being prioritised in such a determination?