Governing the UK Contribution to Health Security: in Our National Interest?

Introduction: Recent shifts in the UK international development and foreign policy landscape have revealed a broader scope for global health security activity across UK funding and policy priorities. A lack of clarity surrounding the governance architecture for the expanding UK health security community has led to a risk of fragmentation within the health, development and foreign policy communities. The study aimed to explore the contemporary governance capacity around the UK health security community through the accounts of its leaders and decision makers. MethodsA qualitative research study was undertaken in the form of once off, semi-structured, in depth interviews with 12 key informants. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to code the data into themes. These coded transcripts and observations were supported by a review of contemporary literature and policy documentation in order to form a narrative of findings and draw conclusions. ResultsUK global health leaders and decision makers considered the governance architecture of the expanding UK health security community to be of insufficient capacity. The need for stronger governance is essential to make a compelling case for the ongoing political commitment and resourcing of the UK contribution to global health security, and its impact on wider UK global health efforts. ConclusionFindings from this study point to three strategic priorities required in order to strengthen the governance around the UK health security community: 1) Consensus needs to be built around a compelling public narrative for the UK contribution to global health security, 2) an effective model of coordination needs to be built for stakeholders active in the domain and, 3) forums for cross sector engagement and regulation must be created in order to find innovative solutions to these problems that extend beyond the boundaries of a single organisation or community.