| dc.description.abstract | Modem health matters touch on many issues of national security and socio-economic interest and embody the tensions between national sovereignty and global collective action, and therefore new skills are needed to negotiate global regimes. The study sought to examine the intersection between human security and public health in the Kenya’s foreign policy and diplomacy. This study will contribute and generate new knowledge and evidence on the effectiveness of health promotion polices that could be sufficiently applied by public health experts. Liberalism was used in the study, and it is one of the main schools of international relations theory. Its roots lie in the broader liberal thought originating in the Enlightenment. The central issues that it seeks to address are the problems of achieving lasting peace and cooperation in international relations. A qualitative analysis of how Kenya’s foreign policy articulates functions that impact on public health was carried out. The target population of the study included key policy advisors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior and Security, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defense and others experts in the area under study. The analysis and findings were presented in the form of frequency tables, bar graphs, pie charts and narratives. The response rate is the proportion of the questionnaire returned after they have been issued to the respondents. In this study, out of the 40 questionnaires issued to participants, the response rate was 100%. The study found that the majority of the respondents (50%) moderately felt that health was an aspect of security, this goes to illustrate that health touches on matters of national security and socio-economic interest. The study therefore found that human security aims to strengthen the interface between protection and empowerment. In the context of public health, a protection approach aims to strengthen institutions in a society to prevent, monitor, and anticipate health threats. The study concludes that foreign policy makers must therefore broaden their horizons when seeking to further national interests. New tools of foreign policy have been debated as part of this new milieu including such ideas as health as a form of 'soft power' and even health as a 'bridge for peace'. The study recommends that there is a great need for Kenya to articulate health issues in the foreign policy. Pandemics, emerging diseases and bioterrorism are real and direct threats to national and global security. Health issues are also important in other core functions of foreign policy, such as pursuing economic growth, fostering development, and supporting human rights and human dignity. | |
