2. Strategic Guidance and Rationale for GHE

Module Outline:

  • Learning Objectives
  • Lecture
  • Required Readings
  • Supplemental Materials
  • Discussion Questions
  • After You Watch/Read//Engage
  • Looking Ahead

Welcome to the first full week of course content: Strategic Guidance and Rationale. This week we will explore the fundamental “why?” of DoD GHE. Why should wealthy, highly-developed nations pursue health-related development projects in developing countries? Why and how should the U.S. military be involved in such endeavors?

This week’s lecture discusses the complex, multidimensional link between health and security and the U.S. government’s national security guidance that underpins the international development work of various USG agencies such as State, USAID, and of course, DoD.

The required readings expand on both the rationale and strategic guidance for DoD GHE. Last week you should have read DODI 2000.30, one of the foundational documents guiding the DoD global health engagement enterprise. We recommend you keep the directive bookmarked as you’ll likely need to make use of it throughout this course. The two articles from Joint Force Quarterly provide insightful commentary on both the “why” and “how” the DoD should pursue its GHE strategy. The brief article from the Washington Post discusses a non-state actor – Hezbollah in Lebanon - involved in domestic/regional health engagement. How might non-state (or what might be called subnational in the case of Hezbollah) actors pose challenges for USG GHE activities? Is the global health security “space” big enough for both, or is it often a zero-sum game?

Finally, the readings from Axelrod and Jervis will assist us in applying a lens from the field of international relations to GHE.

Learning Objectives:

  1. To identify and understand the linkage between health and security
  2. To identify and understand the strategic rationale for GHE
  3. To identify and understand the definitions of and strategic guidance for GHE

Lecture:

For more on the strategic rationale and guidance for global health engagements and U.S. government engagement in the global health arena, listen to a brief interview with Irene Koek, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID.:

You may also find this podcast's discussion of fragility, what it means, and what it means for those living in fragile contexts helpful.

Or this podcast's discussion: Can the U.S. Solve Foreign Crises Before They Start?

Discussion Questions:

Please be prepared to discuss the following questions in addition to the required readings. They may be used in the online Sakai forums or the live VTC.

  1. Can the terms ‘global health,’ ‘global health security,’ and ‘global health and security’ be used interchangeably? How are they different? Describe each in your own words?
  2. What strategic rationale does the U.S. Military have for the conduct of global health engagements?
  3. Choose a recent regional or global bio-threat, health concern, or disaster with medical implications.
    1. Describe how this was a threat to global health security.
    2. What role does the DoD have with regard to this particular health concern?
    3. How does this particular health concern support the need for continued and potentially improved global health engagement efforts?

After You Watch/Read/Engage:

  1. Visit the Sakai discussion forums.
  2. There is no VTC this week!
  3. Complete the Quiz before Wednesday at 2355 EST.

Looking Ahead:

  1. Next week's module covers Stakeholders and Coordination in DoD GHE. Who else is involved in the global health space and in what ways do they enable, challenge, or influence the selection, planning, execution, and evauation of U.S. military global health engagement activities?
  2. The short paper assignment (600 words) is due March 18 at 2355 hours.
  3. The comprehensive final paper assignment (2000 words) is due May 13 at 2355 hours.