The ability to prevent future health crises is critical in avoiding human suffering, maintaining security and stability, and enabling societies to stay on a positive path towards development and good governance. A country’s security sector, along with regional and global security providers, can play an invaluable role in the prevention and management of health crises if properly prepared, mandated, and integrated into multiagency mitigation strategies.  

The 30 contributors to the volume analyze the Ebola crisis in 2014–2015 and the security sector’s role in West Africa; the roles played by security institutions in affected countries, by international military support missions and by regional and global organizations; and opportunities for cooperation between health and security sectors.

They conclude with recommended measures for decision-makers at local, national, regional, and international levels to optimize security institutions’ contributions towards preventing and managing health crises, as well as an assessment of parallels between lessons from Ebola and the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.