Health and human security in the Arab world: Towards a context-relevant approach

The 2009 Arab Human Development Report argued for the adoption of human security as the framework for a better understanding of the social, political, and economic conditions in the Arab world. This caused uproar in the intellectual circles in the region warning of “securitizing” people's rights. In this paper, we examine the implications of the human security concept and framework on public health research and advocacy in the Arab world and argue for an option to critically adopt this concept to advance health issues in certain contexts. We explore the social and political meanings associated with the notion of “threats” to human security and protection and identify that there is insufficient understanding of the relationship between health and the concept of human security in the region. We argue that human security could be deployed as a critical concept and framework by advocates of public health and social protection to address the threats to health of individuals, communities, and populations. On one hand, pervasive threats to human security, depicted as forms of structural violence, can be considered important “social” determinants of health in areas of conflict as well as in non-conflict areas. On the other hand, the application of the human security framework needs to be sensitive to local, national, and global contexts. Its use and value would depend on a better understanding of where threats are coming from, whose security we are considering, and who is providing this security.