policy

The Intersection of Global Health, Military Medical intelligence, and National Security in the Management of Transboundary Hazards and Outbreaks

By |2020-07-07T08:43:11-10:00July 1st, 2020|

This paper identifies the many forms of evolving surveillance techniques that could be used for prevention and early warning of global pandemic outbreaks, and the resistance to such monitoring. Excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic-induced, shocking collapse of national and international trade, air travel, and tourism have rocked the world, and brought into stark relief the need for better health and disease surveillance. We have witnessed the global economy brought to its knees by the rapid spread of infection, resulting in widespread illness and many deaths. The rise in nationalism and isolationism, political use of the blame game, along with locked-down peoples [...]

Policy Guidance for Pakistan’s Oscillation Response to COVID-19

By |2020-06-29T14:45:58-10:00June 25th, 2020|

In this paper, Asma Khawaja and Dr. Deon Canyon detail how shifting policy guidance affected Pakistan’s response to COVID-19, including the women’s role in a patriarchal society. Excerpt: Although the government of Pakistan took immediate measures to cope with the pandemic, such as the release of funds, establishment of quarantine centers, hiring of medical staff, and acquisition of testing kits and medicines, they faced major challenges every step of the way. A lack of facilities, equipment and supplies in hospitals, poor health system infrastructure, corruption of officials, and inconsistent implementation of government policies for managing people at borders and airports [...]

A Health Security Pandemic Checklist for Developing Nations and Donors

By |2020-06-16T12:24:12-10:00June 12th, 2020|

In this paper, the authors provide a checklist for some of the measures that were proven effective during the COVID-19 pandemic and how developing countries may apply those measures to local conditions. Excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic presents as a global, complex, public health emergency that varies in impact due to geography, variations in virulence over time and space, response preparation times, available resources, culture, religion, and a host of other possible confounders. Response systems that have shown encouraging quantitative results in one nation may thus be ineffective, or even counterproductive in other places. Developed nations have responded in a variety [...]

Structuring ASEAN military involvement in disaster management and the ASEAN Militaries Ready Group

By |2020-06-10T13:56:38-10:00June 10th, 2020|

This paper explores the most recent efforts by the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts Working Group on HADR 2017-2020 to support ASEAN’s response capacity with the development and adoption of SOPs for an ASEAN Militaries Ready Group (AMRG). Excerpt: It is clear from the ambitious vision of the One ASEAN, One Response declaration that ASEAN will continue to play an important role in international disaster response and even in conflict and peacekeeping. This vision is articulated in a provision of the foundation documentation for the AMRG which outlines the possibility of the AMRG to serve as a preventive [...]

Urgent Policies Required to Grant Public Access to Protected Health Information during Emergency Disease Outbreaks and Pandemics

By |2020-06-10T13:45:09-10:00June 10th, 2020|

This OpEd discuss the pros and cons of using tracking apps to stay ahead of disease outbreaks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Excerpt: While some believe that contact tracing apps produce benefits as soon as users increase above 10 percent of a population, there remain PHI-related shortcomings in these approaches because such apps do not actually measure the circumstances that are known to be important in COVID-19 transmission. This lack of accuracy in granular data makes it difficult for both disease managers and individuals to benefit. Apps with inappropriately short infection-interaction algorithms will show too many people as possibly infected (as [...]

Making the Most of It, Part II: Xi Jinping Leverages Coronavirus ‘War Without Smoke’ to Spur Digital Transformation, Test National Defense Mobilization

By |2020-11-26T15:02:45-10:00April 27th, 2020|

In this paper, Dr. Dorman states that “Despite being tied to the pandemic or “economic restart,” current Chinese domestic propaganda efforts on topics ranging from “crisis management” to “digital transformation” and “defense mobilization” did not originate with the coronavirus. Instead, each represents an agile repackaging of Communist Party guidance and propaganda messaging that was already months or years old. Facing a crisis of confidence following its muddled response to the coronavirus outbreak, domestic propaganda efforts were initiated within days or weeks to remold the Party image. Instead of starting from scratch, existing campaigns were repackaged to highlight a Party that [...]

Sending the COVID-19 Immune to Work to Prevent Economic Catastrophe

By |2020-04-22T15:34:50-10:00April 16th, 2020|

Widespread introduction of commercial and societal lockdown practices is helping to flatten the curve of new coronavirus cases, while simultaneously inflicting great harm on our economy and individual finances. The global pandemic continues to spread worldwide, yet business leaders are already exerting pressure on political leaders to adapt protection measures to better protect commercial interests. Crises differ significantly in their duration, but our experience tells us they are always temporary, exceptional, and unusual. Our leaders must be prepared to effectively manage the difficult task of transitioning their communities and their nations out of the crisis and into recovery with the [...]

China’s Global Covid-19 Assistance is Humanitarian and Geopolitical. That’s Why People are Worried.

By |2020-04-14T11:40:26-10:00April 14th, 2020|

The main thrust of the Chinese Communist Party’s domestic propaganda work since late January has focused on masking the early role of the Party in stifling public health transparency and creating the pandemic crisis. The primary propaganda message, widely disseminated in domestic state-run media, highlighted the “political and organizational advantage” of the Communist Party in tackling the health emergency once the decision to contain the crisis was made in Beijing. View/Download Document

Perceptions of Indigenous Security Practitioners on China’s Geostrategic Activities in the Pacific

By |2020-04-10T10:53:24-10:00April 10th, 2020|

Key points Pacific Islands are struggling to rationally position themselves on a red line between the US and China, but the line is developing an edge. There is a dire need for the reinforcement of security infrastructure throughout the Pacific Pacific Islands must be proactive in preserving national sovereignty, ensuring that their international relations are only in their best interests, and protecting their limited resources View/Download Document

Making the Most of It: China’s Military Wins the COVID-19 Fight in Wuhan

By |2020-04-06T11:01:33-10:00April 6th, 2020|

The heroic role of Chinese soldiers working inside Wuhan city during the height of the COVID-19 epidemic deserves the admiration of the Chinese people and the respect of persons outside China. Their risks and sacrifices have been well documented in Chinese media. Over past months, one could not turn the pages of a major Chinese publication without stories, photographs, videos and even cartoons detailing their important role in saving lives.1 This is the story the Chinese Communist Party wants all people, inside and outside China, to understand. If this was all there was to say, we could also be talking about [...]

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