This Essay examines the scope of the United Nations Security Council as a global health actor. Focusing on developments in the Council’s agenda in the last two decades, it takes account of the five Resolutions relating to health crises—HIV/AIDS, Ebola and COVID-19–adopted during the period 2000–2020. The Essay contends that the desirability and effectiveness of the Council’s engagement with global health is debatable. However, in light of the potential ‘security’dimension of health crises—or, approached differently, the apparent gains from framing these crises as threats to international peace and security—the Security Council may be expected to keep health on its agenda.

Can the United Nations (UN) Security Council be considered a global health actor? At face value, there seems to be a mismatch between the ‘high politics’ at the Security Council, relating to questions of war and peace between member states, and the ‘low politics’ that is traditionally associated with health, which supposedly would be left to lower-ranking state officials and to other actors like civil society organizations. Yet, there are signs that the distinction between high and low politics in the case of health is becoming blurred. As of September 1, 2020, the Security Council has adopted five Resolutions relating to global health, two each on HIV/AIDS and Ebola and one on COVID-19. Indeed, along with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN, the year 2020 also marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the first such Resolution: the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1308 on ‘HIV/AIDS and international peacekeeping operations’ that was adopted in July 2000. The Security Council has begun to emerge as a relevant voice on key moments in global health, at junctures associated with what have come to be known as ‘public health emergencies of international concern’. More so than the 20th anniversary, the global crisis emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 presents an opportune moment to reflect on the role of the Security Council in international cooperation on health issues. As per the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security; it generally tends to follow a traditional interpretation of this mandate by focusing on inter-state wars and