Global Health Biosecurity in a Vulnerable World – An Evaluation of Emerging Threats and Current Disaster Preparedness Strategies for the Future

Abstract

Global health biosecurity faces many limitations with growing concern surrounding industrialization and urban development that is continuing across the globe, bringing with it the need to better understand the challenges this growth may have on our ability to maintain health sustainability, safety, and security. With the expansion of technologies and research comes both wonderous discoveries and great burden regarding the potential utilization of novel creations for harm instead of good. Biosecurity was developed not only for preparedness and protection from bioterrorism, but also to evaluate the interconnectedness of all aspects of safety and security of the planet, including areas of agricultural biosecurity, research biosecurity, human and animal health, pandemic threats, as well as threats from global warming and the recent increase in natural disasters. Global health biosecurity is attainable through effective collaborations between stakeholders at all levels from the ground up, which requires strong partnerships that extend past the imaginary boundaries of community, county, province, state, or country. Although there is no definitive amount of biosecurity preparedness that can eliminate all risks to human health, the current limitations that are present in global health biosecurity can be reduced through effective education and adequate partnering in disaster management, preparedness planning, and development of protection strategies. Strengthening global health partnerships can further ignite the ability to respond in the event of a biosecurity breach, whether intentional or accidental in nature, enabling an actionable plan which appropriately mitigates recovery creating security and resilience within the population. The history of infectious diseases has shown that the planet is ever changing with new challenges expected from unknown and remerging diseases that could affect human and animal health, as well as agricultural sustainability which may continue to make the earth and its inhabitants vulnerable to biological threats. Global health biosecurity has the ability to rise to these unknown challenges by utilizing the knowledge from the past, evaluating the research of today, strengthening global partnerships, and reinforcing biosecurity commitment through unified collaborations across borders.