The impact of armed conflicts on the spread of infectious diseases

Abstract

Infectious diseases and armed conflicts represent two separate global security threats that endanger entire world population. The problem is that they are most often observed and analysed completely separately, without determining their interconnectedness and the way in which one threat influences the other. Hence, the subject of this paper is the analysis of their correlation, particularly one aspect of that relation that being the determination of the way in which armed conflicts influence the spread of infectious diseases. The paper is based on the assumption that the influence of armed conflicts on the spread of infectious diseases has decreased over the time. The question is whether armed conflicts used to be or still are the main catalyst for the spread of infectious diseases. Examination of literature yielded a conclusion that over the time, concurrently with ever greater interdependence of different parts of the world, the influence of armed conflicts on the spread of infectious diseases decreased. Unlike previous periods, when armed conflicts used to be major catalysts for the spread of these diseases, in 21st century, their influence has not disappeared, but it has been marginalised to a great degree. Thus the gradual process of globalisation has contributed to ever more frequent and intensive movement of people worldwide, which is favourable for fast and easy spreading of infectious diseases, drastically reducing the influence of armed conflicts on their spreading.